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Specter To Switch Parties

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.

Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next senator from Minnesota. (Former senator Norm Coleman is appealing Franken's victory in the state Supreme Court.)

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."

He added: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

President Obama was informed of Specter's decision at around 10:25 a.m., according to White House officials, and reached out to the senator minutes later to tell him "you have my full support," and we are "thrilled to have you."

Specter as a Democrat would also fundamentally alter the 2010 calculus in Pennsylvania as he was expected to face a difficult primary challenge next year from former Rep. Pat Toomey. The only announced Democrat in the race is former National Constitution Center head Joe Torsella although several other candidates are looking at the race.

The precariousness of Specter's political position -- a Republican in a Democratic-leaning state -- was on display earlier this year when he was one of three GOP senators to back President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan. That vote was strongly condemned by conservative Republicans and Toomey used that vote as the launching pad for his candidacy.

Because of the shrinking Republican vote in the state, Specter was seen as a dead man walking politically in the primary with polling showing him trailing Toomey by ten or more points. The bar for Specter to run as an independent was also extremely high due to the rules governing such a third party candidacy.

That left a Democratic candidacy as Specter's best option if he wanted to remain in the Senate beyond 2010.

"Today's Democrats believe everything starts with government at the center, and whatever rights, priviledges, income, etc, that we have are only the result of what the government 'allows'.

Here's a history lesson. Read the Constitution. Read the Bill of Rights. Read the Declaration of Independence. Our founders believed that "We the PEOPLE" grant power to government...and limited power, at that....not the other way around."

Hardly, which is why we believe government shouldn't interfere in a woman's medical decisions, why we believe in separation of church and state, and why so many of our party members are also members of the ACLU (or are they another group who believes government should be at the center of everything?). Your argument is yet another conservative strawman with no basis in reality. The Republican philosophy has taken too much proper regulation out of the mix to allow too many other interests (business, etc) to deprive the people of their rights, we are about restoring that balance.

"I think this comment accurately captures the mentality of today's Democrats/liberals/progressives, and just how far removed they are from the beliefs and principles of our founders."

I have my bachelors in American History, thank you very much. Maybe you should read some history, and if you did maybe you'd stop referring to "the beliefs and principles of our founders." Our founders were as politically divided as we are today. Too many on both sides like to take random quotes on individual issues (Franklin said this about freedom, Jefferson said this about taxation, etc) to make it look like all were in sync with their parties today, meanwhile they ignore where those same founders contradicted them on other issues and there were differences of opinion among them. Want an example? I suggest you read up on the teabagger's and Glenn Beck's hero Thomas Paine. Those morons think he would have been on their side, apparently having never read any of his writings (after reading them, they would recognize he was far more a socialist than even Bernie Sanders - go start with Agrarian Justice).

The simple fact is, no one is depriving you of your economic liberty, nobody is moving to nationalize all industry (temporarily, maybe, in the case of specific auto and financial companies, but that's it), and raising the highest tax rates back to what they were in the 1990's constitutes neither tyrrany nor an impending danger to our economic society (seems to me we did pretty well economically when that tax system was in place).

Spector is nothing more than an opportunist who is worried about his ability to get re-elected, nothing more! Funny how he isn't mentioning how he was once a Democrat and changed parties to become a Republican in the 60's. Yes, he was up for re-election and the polls showed that he wouldn't win, so he changed parties. Convenient huh? It's like Deja vu! He's doing the EXACT same thing again, but using excuses for why he is doing it. To listen to the schmoozing that was going on during the press conference this morning just makes me sick! Could he have sucked up to Obama any better? I think not! The ridiculous love fest is typical of the adoration that so many politicians are showing our new President. Can you say AGENDA??? Since the majority of Americans weren't especially smart during the election, hence the choice made, I can only hope that they will begin to smarten up after seeing what has NOT been accomplished in these first 100 days.

kreuz_missile:
"Gov't allowing ownership of private businesses is common of many government structures."

I think this comment accurately captures the mentality of today's Democrats/liberals/progressives, and just how far removed they are from the beliefs and principles of our founders.

Today's Democrats believe everything starts with government at the center, and whatever rights, priviledges, income, etc, that we have are only the result of what the government 'allows'.

Here's a history lesson. Read the Constitution. Read the Bill of Rights. Read the Declaration of Independence. Our founders believed that "We the PEOPLE" grant power to government...and limited power, at that....not the other way around.

The problem is, when you give the PEOPLE the power and responsibility to make their own decisions, government officials don't have as much power and influence.

Which is why the Democrat Party today supports any policy that keeps droves of people enslaved to the government for their subsistance. Enslavement equals power to control, and the Democrat Party as it stands today exists only for the purpose of exerting as much control as possible over how we live our day to day lives.

So given your advice to the GOP, is that how you see the Democrat rebound from the '90's? Their success being the result of rejecting the 'extremists' in their party?

Did the Democrats show the militant gays, feminists, the (always) anti-war protestors, extreme environmentalists, true socialists (who actually admit they are), and other fringe supporters the door so the Democrat Party could move back to the 'center', become a little more conservative, and attract a broader swathe of mainstream voters? Is that how you see it?

Of course that didn't happen. So why would the GOP jettisoning all of their 'extremist' supporters make up any part of a successful formula for a rebound?

kreuz_missile:
"It's called the Democratic Leadership Council. It's called Third Way politics. It's called Triangulation. It's called Welfare Reform."

It's called the GOP had control of Congress. If you are trying to give Clinton credit for Welfare Reform, you are less politically astute than I thought. How many times did he stonewall and refuse to approve Welfare Reform? He eventually only signed it because he didn't want to face the embarassing prospect of the GOP congress overriding his veto, further adding fuel to the fire of his eroding popularity.

Giving Clinton and the 'reformed' Democrat Party credit for Welfare Reform. That's rich.

"It is exactly for that reason that changes occur on a cyclical basis. Elections are cyclical, in this case, a calendar event that comes around at a specified time. Often it is the only engine that motivates the masses into action. In preparation, grass root activity takes place, there is an evaluation of the direction the party wants to go, who will be the leaders to takes us in that direction and the strategic implementation of the plan. If it weren't for elections, there wouldn't be any change except by revolution or civil war. It often takes that kind of a jolt to awaken the party electorate from complacency and cause them to move in another direction."

Right, cyclical change occurs because elections force the parties to learn and adapt. the cycles change the parties and lead to shifts in power, not the other way around. The Republican Party will only rebound if it learns the lessons of the last six years, regroups, and emerges stronger as a result. Right now, as evidence both by the rantings of conservative icons like Limbaugh and by posters on this board, they haven't learned a thing. They still believe conservatives to be a silent majority- and thus the lesson they are taking is not to adapt, but simply to be louder. That's a recipe for political extinction.

"Kruez, my definition of fascism is the gov't allowing private ownership of businesses with full gov't control. It won't be long before we cannot buy what type vehicle we want, a new Camaro in my case. Soon we will have to go to the gov't to borrow to buy....Very very soon, the 48%rs will have no say in the way our country is run. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to lose most of the protection of the 1st, and most if not all of the 2nd. Unless that is our Constitution is scrapped altogether. That to me is fascism/totalitarianism and we are headed their rapidly."

Actually, 52% of the population deciding is called majoritarianism. Gov't allowing ownership of private businesses is common of many goverrnment structures, even the Us for the past 70 years. 1 Person deciding is called totalitarianism, and fascism is a political system defined by intense nationalism/jingoism, corporatism (businesses having input into government, not the other way around), and militarism. Not an agenda that can be identified with the Democratic party, though I can think of another party that seems to fit that bill.

As for the rest of your post, pretty much a slippery slope where there's no there there.

Does anyone seriously think that the addition of Specter will create a filibuster proof majority. Even with 65 Democrats they couldn't show enough discipline. Don't forget that Specter will not be the only DINO; just the supreme one.

JakeD, baby ... you're pretty much what's wrong with the GOP these days. A little too caffeinated, a little too "in your face," a little too wild-eyed and hardcore. Like you're trying to score a date with Michele Bachmann so the two of you can do speed. I get the feeling you're screaming when you're whispering, spit flying everywhere.

I love how liberals think they know conservatives. The fact that you guys live in a PC world, pushing your PC beliefs on the rest of us, pretending you're for liberty and truth when you're really pushing socialism. People will tire of Obama and his so-called change.

After Obama's 100 days what has he accomplished? NOTHING! The troops are still in Iraq and it looks like for much longer, BO has increased the war in Afghanistan (where's your outrage?), he has spent $1+ trillion, he has raised taxes, he has not handed out that check you all thought you were going to get, unemployment has risen like we've haven't seen in many years, he trashed America during his photo op European Tour and came back with nothing, he's the 1st president to bow to ANYONE let alone a Saudi Muslim King while refusing to bow to the Queen of England (if you bow for one you should bow to all, right?) because she was a white European, he has used the race card over and over, he and others in his administration are using this crisis as an opportunity to spend our money... I could go on and on.

Embrace the repositioning of the right to the center.
Let the radical right along with Rush realize that conservative nature is a fair belief. But, radical departure is frowned upon in both the left and right wings.
I will meet all of you on the long road to the center!!!! Posted by: marksvalina | April 28, 2009 6:50 PM |

This is the best thing for Republicans. Liberals like Specter and McCain have ruined the party. Specter complained the far right is to blame. He said the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right. Wow, and we all thought it was because they've moved to the left. GOODBYE SPECTER - DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN YOUR A**. Now the Dems are completely to blame and cannot say that Republicans were preventing them from doing what they want. NO EXCUSES.

Stick it in your cob pipe and smoke it,Mitch McConnell.Anyone as inept and useless as you should be cringing as minority,uh-hum,leader.You've always been a loser and kudos to Senator Specter for highlighting the point...even if it's underhandedly.Your party,Leader McConnell,is in shambles.Leave it up to you and we can safely trust you to send it to the grave...where it belongs.Abraham Lincoln would probably do the same thing as Specter if he had the chance.Thanks,Mitchie!
What a great day to be a democrat/Democrat! I love it.

Senator Specter's decision is a wise move. For most of the people on this site leaving comments that believe he will be ousted in the next election. Please realize he is a prevalent heavy weight in the Senate, that has been there for some thirty odd years. He will be there in the next election a winner and Democrat. Embrace the repositioning of the right to the center.
Let the radical right along with Rush realize that conservative nature is a fair belief. But, radical departure is frowned upon in both the left and right wings.
I will meet all of you on the long road to the center!!!!

Again, if you have ever donated to Specter, I suggest you go in person (TOMORROW MORNING, before he closes down any of these offices, he's already lost the services of one polling firm) and request a refund:

"That depends if anyone snaps out of their current Kool-Aid fix and realizes that we're not in a Bush recession or an Obama recession, but in a genuine Pelosi/Reid recession. Pelosi/Reid have been trying to run the executive part of the government as non-elected executives by legislative fiat since January 2007, and neglecting the house's real roles in debating legislation. We already see the DNC influence on the courts in trying to run legislation, as non-elected legislators by judicial fiat."

Well, you people got a ton of Americans to believe that John Kerry faked his war wounds, so I guess anything is possible. Too bad there's enough people out there who won't let you people get by with those lies anymore.

ROFL Spector will become anything to save his job. He knew he'd lose the election. I think if the communist party took over he'd find a job with them. Damn, come to think of it, he just did. Incremental Socialism for the ignorant and desperate is a stones through away.

Back on topic: Joe Torsella, the frontrunner for the Democratic Senate nomination in Pennsylvania, announced today that he will not step aside following the news that Republican Sen. Arlen Specter would run for re-election as a Democrat in 2010.

Specter, who is seeking a sixth term, announced earlier in the day he would switch his party affiliation to the Democratic Party. Torsella's decision to stay in the race means that Specter will face a Democratic primary in 2010.

"I decided to run for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania for one simple reason: I believe we need new leadership, new ideas, and new approaches in Washington," Torsella, the former head of the National Constitution Center, said in a statement sent to CNN. "It's become obvious that the old ways of doing business might have worked for the special interests, but they haven't worked for the rest of us.

"Nothing about today's news regarding Senator Specter changes that, or my intention to run for the Democratic nomination to the Senate in 2010 - an election that is still a full year away."

"but it seems like Republicans are poised to lose even MORE seats in the Senate."
That depends if anyone snaps out of their current Kool-Aid fix and realizes that we're not in a Bush recession or an Obama recession, but in a genuine Pelosi/Reid recession. Pelosi/Reid have been trying to run the executive part of the government as non-elected executives by legislative fiat since January 2007, and neglecting the house's real roles in debating legislation. We already see the DNC influence on the courts in trying to run legislation, as non-elected legislators by judicial fiat.
The true loser is not the GOP but the US Constitution. We have gone from a republic/representative democracy to a soviet polituburo style socialism.

Jake - I listen to WMAL on streaming media. I know that Pandora works for the iPhone, so I think it's possible. I punched in WMAL and iPhone and got a link to ooTunes, an application that claims to let you listen to streaming radio. Mrs. Blade is a happy Touch user, but I can't vouch for it. Seemed to have happy users, though.

Hey Chris! That might be an app that makes your list. Well, at least if you want to catch a Nats game on the go.

May we all bow our heads in prayer...Dear Lord, please, please let the democratic party fall like a drunken donkey after a night of binge drinking and never again be allowed to rise after the 2010 election, in your name we pray. Amen. God Bless the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, not the Socialist republic of Obama, a name he came up with all by himself. He is brilliant isn't he, not.

ROFL Spector will become anything to save his job. He new he'd lose the election. I think if the communist party took over he'd find a job with them. Damn, come to think of it, he just did. Incremental Socialism for the ignorant and desperate is a stones through away.

Some of you guys have been drinking a little too much of your own kool aid.

There are too many Republicans who aren't truly conservative. At least Specter has self-identified now so the conservative people of PA (Republicans, Democrats, and Independents) can vote him out of office.

2010 isn't so far away and there are a lot of very angry people out here across all political parties.

Holy cow, someone wants a world without Republicans? We already had that. It was called Nazi Germany. It was called the USSR. It was called Facist Italy. And they were all failures. Just like any modern socialist country is an economic failure. Stand-by folks. Something far worse than Republicans awaits our nation. I always wondered how Hitler was able to fool an entire nation. I see now, first hand. It takes a combination of a trusting and naive people coupled with a slick talker (or in this case, a slick telepromter reader.)

Absolutely NO surprise here! Now we can officially address this POS as Comrade Specter. With his willing help, the Socialists can degrade this still great nation into the tank of Socialism or WORSE faster than they are already doing. I wonder if he will feel as good about himself when his new found Socialist Party throws Israel under the world bus? Then maybe he can be drummed out of Judaism too. Hope you enjoy all the bad luck you can imagine you worthless POS!

"Parties don't just bounce back on a cycle, otherwise what would be the point of having elections?"
It is exactly for that reason that changes occur on a cyclical basis. Elections are cyclical, in this case, a calendar event that comes around at a specified time. Often it is the only engine that motivates the masses into action. In preparation, grass root activity takes place, there is an evaluation of the direction the party wants to go, who will be the leaders to takes us in that direction and the strategic implementation of the plan. If it weren't for elections, there wouldn't be any change except by revolution or civil war. It often takes that kind of a jolt to awaken the party electorate from complacency and cause them to move in another direction. These are cycles of political activity and we've seen this kind of ebb and tide with each of these parties before.
My bigger concern is that the "have nots" have finally figured out that they have a voice if they vote and the larger constituency of "have nots" has settled on the Democratic Party as their vehicle for action. With no filibuster power, I see some unsettling opportunities to finally give the "have nots" what they've always wanted which is what the "Haves have got".

"Yojoe had an important point which has been largely ignored in the storm of partisan vitriol."

It's hard for me to take a post seriously when someone claims to be a Democrat and then fills the post with Republican talking points. Um, yeah, somehow having a Democratic majority is going to turn us into a dictatorship, yeah. I'll scour my history books for dictatorships with bicameral legislatures and a separate executive branch and a Constitution. Wish me luck!

All the Democrats celebrating and Republicans complaining are proving that they don't understand the situation or politics. If anything this will play into being a big win for the Republican party come 2010. No longer will the Democratic party be able to blame Republicans for holding them back. Instead they will take the full blame for whatever problems arise. Senate Republicans can take a vacation now and still come out ahead. When elections roll around and our economy is still crap like everyone expects it to be, the masses will vote in opposition to the majority rule like they always do.

Kruez: (Continued) Very very soon, the
48%rs will have no say in the way our country is run. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to lose most of the protection of the 1st, and most if not all of the 2nd. Unless that is our Constitution is scrapped altogether. That to me is fascism/totalitarianism and we are headed their rapidly.

"At one point, the claim was the Democratic Party was dead and it wasn't that long ago. People are fickle and it simply comes down to, "what have you done for me lately" and eventually, even the diehard liberals will get disenchanted with their Party when the elected become too entrenched in cronism, corruption and forget who elected them."

Yeah, but you have to wonder what it will take for such a monumental switch to happen again. For all the talk of Democrats being a dead party, they were nowhere near as bad off as Republicans are now. Of course Bush is the main reason, Republicans are in such a spot, but its not like Bush was wildly divergent from the Republican agenda. Some of those guys claim that they lost their way, but based on what they are espousing now, I don't see what they would have changed about Bush's platform.

Another big, but overlooked, reason is the fact that the advantage Republicans have in controlling the message through major media outlets has dwindled. Of course, they still control the major media through television and radio. (Keith Olbermann doesn't really negate Hannity or O'Reilly) However, the internet has really evened the playing field. The reason none of the Obama is a Muslim terrorist stuff never gained traction was because of the swift response of the blogosphere when Hannity tried to defame Obama. Without that advantage, its hard for Republicans to do anything. Even the tea parties. For all the FOX organizing, they were still eclipsed by the spontaneous anti-war demonstrating back in 2003. Yeah, the parties had more coverage, but conservative media just doesn't have the stranglehold as it did. Even Drudge has lost a lot of ground to KOS and the like.

Looks like Republicans might have to actually enact some platform changes some day. It's still early in the 2010 cycle, but it seems like Republicans are poised to lose even MORE seats in the Senate.

Uggsays, we have a representative republic and not a democracy, although with a soon to be filibuster proof congress, it may become a democracy.
Kruez, my definition of fascism is the gov't allowing private ownership of businesses with full gov't control. It won't be long before we cannot buy what type vehicle we want, a new Camaro in my case. Soon we will have to go to the gov't to borrow to buy. (cont)

The great, unexplainable mystery is, why you liberals are rejoicing daily that the nation will soon be cast into inextinguishable debt, so far over our heads that the only possible result will be alternating cycles of inflation and tax increases that will skim the cream out of your bank accounts again and again. Please read up a little on basic money supply and the Federal Reserve System before you rejoice in the present move to make the liberal vote invincible in Congress. Do you think that Congress and the President govern, and that Socialism is the happy goal? Oh, no, no, the governing entity is the financial system of perpetual, interest gathering indebtedness and the cooperating factions that govern it, worldwide. You are taxable units and in fact tax slaves, and Socialism is just one of several methods which serve to establish that reliable form of sheep shearing in order to keep the revenue flowing, lest the great ever-widening, impossible Ponzi-like scheme begin to totter from lack of new believers.

"Maybe you have to live a little longer to understand the dynamic of cyclical political changes but for those who haven't been on this earth very long and lack the perspective of time I thought I'd share with you that claiming a particular party is dead has been done before."

Parties don't just bounce back on a cycle, otherwise what would be the point of having elections? The Republican Party needs to do some serious soul searching, evaluate why they lost, and get their house in order. Otherwise their fortunes are more likely to mirror the Federalists, the Whigs, and the other failed political parties of history rather than the Dems, who relied on serious grass-roots work to rebuild the party from the ground up rather than just waiting around.

Maybe you have to live a little longer to understand the dynamic of cyclical political changes but for those who haven't been on this earth very long and lack the perspective of time I thought I'd share with you that claiming a particular party is dead has been done before. At one point, the claim was the Democratic Party was dead and it wasn't that long ago. People are fickle and it simply comes down to, "what have you done for me lately" and eventually, even the diehard liberals will get disenchanted with their Party when the elected become too entrenched in cronism, corruption and forget who elected them.
I do agree that the Democrats have done a good job of labeling the "Right" as extreme and outside the "norm" but that's a label only and the majority of Republicans are conservative but not as extreme. The same could be said of the extreme "Left", but the republicans haven't been able to frame or label them as well. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Dems have a filibuster proof majority and get to pass anything and everything. That's a scary proposition in my mind.

Specter's pragmatic but principled leadership is both a loss for the GOP and much needed for the DEMs. The last moral compass of the GOP just left. Specter is one of the few Republicans who seems to have actually read the Constitution and taken seriously his oath to defend it.

He knew his support of the ARRA would cost him some Republican votes but cared enough to risk his career.

All of you who are pining for the filibuster proof majority may regret what the fascist Obama gov't will do to America.
Since Obama likes to be compared to Lincoln, perhaps he should face the same problem Lincoln did with the South seceding. I will defend the country against all enemies, foreign, and especially domestic, ie. fascists.

Pretty much the same reaction from Hannity. Specter would votes with the Dems anyway, so good riddance. It leaves me with a few interesting questions. First, how does this affect committee assignments? He used to chair Judiciary, but that clearly isn't coming his way. Who will be asked to make way for Ducks? Second, how will this affect Specter's votes? One presumes that he voted at times with the Republican party for party loyalty. Those votes are going to shift.

As an Independent, I never particularly cared for Specter and thought he should have retired some time ago. That said, I think he should have done this in a much better way. He could have resigned, changed parties, and let Rendell reappoint him or run against whomever Rendell appointed. The way he handled this will have some affect on my vote when he runs again.

"Please, do some research and show me one quote from Clinton or one editorial from a major newspaper that said the Democrats has become 'too liberal', too controlled by the "left-wing extremists in their party", and implored Democrats that they had to become "more conservative" to regain power."

It's called the Democratic Leadership Council. It's called Third Way politics. It's called Triangulation. It's called Welfare Reform.

dbw1: "I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate."
-------------------
A little too subtle, perhaps, given his intended audience: basically, he just called the Republican primary electorate a bunch of know-nothing, fundamentalist, loons. Of course, this is not to say that polling numbers weren't the proximate cause of his switch. It's probably just gravy that the people who dislike him are themselves repellent.

FICA, social security is what 1/2, 2/3 of the impoverished individuals taxes. But said poverty level individual may get all "taxed income" returned if they are in the right tax range. Still all being 1/3 of what was taken. With S.S. caped at 100K or 200K whatever, Bill Gates could get 99.999% of his taxes refunded with the right stimulus/tax right off/HumV rebate. All the while feigning economic hardship and pulling benefits for employees.

Do political blog pages fail to update even if you hit the "refresh" button -- keeping you from making timely comments to new blog entries?

Do cookie "blocks" show up in your "preferences" list, even though you didn't request a block, thus preventing you from access?

Are the functions of your computer "hijacked" by third-party remote computing software?

Are you prevented from fully viewing government public documents downloaded from the internet?

Are you blocked from making posts to certain web sites -- seemingly based on the content of your post, receiving messages like "you must be logged on to leave a comment" when the screen shows you've already logged on?

When you post, do typos, spelling errors and other anomalies appear in your comments -- even though you carefully proofread the submission?

You could be the unwitting victim of government "fusion centers" that apparently are using internet "filtering" and realtime remote computing surveillance to censor and maliciously interfere with the telecommunications of American citizens.

Please see this running account of an apparently "targeted" journalist and his quest to exercise his First Amendment right of free speech, and his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures of telecommunications.

Then demand that American Civil Liberties Union renew its fight against warrantless government spying by filing a class-action suit against unconstitutional surveillance and malicious interference with personal and business telecommunications.

Recently, while reading the ACLU blog, this reporter learned of the Bush-Cheney "doctrine" of "ideological exclusion" -- apparently used to bar political "activists" from abroad from visiting the United States.

Could authoritarian bureaucrats be using this doctrine as a justification to censor political speech in this country?

If you suspect the answer is "yes," please add your account to the free speech thread cited above!

If anyone is listening right now to Senator Specter's news conference, he just nailed the GOP problem.
He described how The Club for Growth had gone after Republicans running for Congress to the detriment of Republican control of Congress.
He identified the problem moderates are having with the ultra far-right wing of the GOP, and in their dictatorial demand that GOP incumbents toe an ideological line so rigid that they are not given any room to keep integrity intact nor to help the Party, these far righters are losing all over the nation.
Listening to him describing the politically acidic stew that the far-right GOP has been brewing, he just simply cannot continue to stomach what he would have to do, to give up his independence.
He said he will not always vote with the Democrats on every issue; in fact, he will be a very conservative senator.
That's fine.
He is challenging the Democrats to accept him as is.
I hope they do.
He's an honest man of integrity and good for him.
It's about time we see people stand up for themselves when the mob demands blood.
You can do that as a Democrat; you can't do that as a Republican in this atmosphere.

I think the rational conservatives such as Paul Craig Roberts or Pat Buchanan need to separate themselves from the screaming loons and hate filled hicks that now make up the majority of the "Fox News" party.

These rational conservatives could form a small new party that served as a watchdog group on the majority party. Providing respect commentary on the mistakes that it saw. This small party could eventually grow to become a rational and nationwide opposition party.

In the meantime, the Republican Party, also know as the "Fox News Idiots", could shriek for violent revolution, secession, tax protests and general acts of random violence. They could slander elected public officials by calling them witches or devil worshipers and they could take their rightful place alongside other splinter parties such as the Klan or the American Nazis.

Please, do some research and show me one quote from Clinton or one editorial from a major newspaper that said the Democrats has become 'too liberal', too controlled by the "left-wing extremists in their party", and implored Democrats that they had to become "more conservative" to regain power.

The Republican Party is finished as a national party. You right-wing lunatics can scream "revolution" and have all of the tea parties you want, but look closely at a map and the numbers and it's clear-your done for! You can run your mouths all you want, but guess what....you have to WIN elections to really DO anything....Bye bye..

It's right on cue for the feared Swine Flu to make it's entrance at the same time the Obamination of America is taking place with Socialism the tonic of the desperate/ignorant turns government into a GIANT PIG with the dysfunctional codependent Obama voters lining up to suck on it's tits for life. They will be squealing though when they find the milk both tainted and scarce. Swine Flu is a far better fate.

I notice that Chris failed to mention this gem in Spector's announcement:
"I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate."

What the heck does that mean? A fairly embarassing admission. He's been a Republican for his whole life and yet doesn't want to stand for election in a GOP primary.

Sen Spector is soooo principled.... principled enough that he took one look at his polling numbers and saw the writing on the wall.

Now he can comfortably stand with all the members of the other party that he has always sided with anyway, and who similarly sell out American principles day after day for the sake of pandering for votes.

It is a party that has become marginalized by it's right wing albeit a right wing that has nopw become the norm. One can argue whether Specter is motivated by conscience or ambition. The fact it is both. Ideological purists in the Republican party have made it all but impossible for individual Senators to act on their conscience. They pushed Specter into a corner. They gave him little choice but to join the Democrats if he wanted to stay in the Senate and he made that choice.

The GOP way overplayed their hand on Specter. Republican moderates are now shrunk to three moderates from New England, one of whom will not stand for reelection. They have driven the moderates out of their party.

What they fail to grasp is that the bulk of the American electorate is not ideological. By careening to the right, the GOP has become alienated from the vast majority of independent voters.

Yet you will find these same right wing Republicans declaring that the lesson to be learned by their fall from power in the last two elections was that the party was not ideologically pure enough.

More GOP seats are at risk than Democrats when the 2010 election rolls around. Unless they make a big move back to the mainstream of American thought, they are due for a long journey through the wilderness.

"Remember all those articles the Wash Post ran telling the Democrat party that it needed to 'move to the middle'? All those editorials telling the Democrats they needed to dump all those "left-wing extremists" like the militant gays and quasi-socialists who were infecting their party? Remember that?

bmBallard1: fiscal conservative and more of a social liberal
-----------------------------
RushTalk English Gloss
Fiscal Conservative + Social Liberal: "Goshdarnit! Freedom should be free, otherwise it's false advertising."

I would like to thank the ranting, hate filled, reality challenged, paranoid, dogmatic, Republican loons and religious kooks who handed the United States back to the Democratic adults.

If you hand not forced your way into the position as the public face of the party, your party probably would not now be a shrinking 21% of the electorate and we jolly well might have a Republican President and Congress right now.

As it is, the party of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter may soon only be a factor in races for dog catcher in small southern towns.

Thank you and keep up the good work. Spit some hate and alienate another moderate. Do it for the good of the nation.

I lost all respect for Sen. Spector in the last senate race when, after 24 years in the senate, he chose to attack his opponent rather than state a SINGLE thing he had accomplished! Don't tell me why I shouldn't vote for the other guy, tell me why I should vote for you! 24 years with nothing positive to stand on. It is much easier for me to believe that this is a move to get re-elected, not a move to the party he more strongly agrees with. Man of principal?? Not in my book.

Sour grapes my arse. By the time 2010 rolls around your party will have done enough damage to sway the voting back to our side - just like '94. This move is a good thing. Take your filibuster proof freedom and run with it dems.....shove the craziest things you can think of down america's throat. It will just make 2010 easier for us.

I don't need a "pure" party. I am a fiscal conservative and more of a social liberal. Liberalism in matters of defense and the welfare state are where I have my greatest disagreements. Specter consistently voted with the left on such issues - for a long time. It was time for him to come clean and join the side he really belongs with.

katavo wrote:
"The anger on the part of the republican true believers here today is just ... astounding."

Don't mistake jubilation and passionate joy for anger. Conservatives were angry when the party of individual freedoms, Constitutional rights guaranteeing them freedom FROM government and the party of free enterprise was filled with Benedict Arnolds.

The quickest way for the GOP to regain power is to let voters get a good taste of liberal...errrr, "progressive" politics again."

Couple big problems:
1. Clinton won with only 43% of the vote- decisive in that election, but not a majority or a mandate for an agenda. Obama got about 53%.

2. Many congressional Dems at the tie were conservative ones as a realignment was still taking place. Two senators from that era would switch parties - Shelby (AL) and Campbell (CO) moving to Republicans. The trend these days is the other direction.

3. Republicans didn't simply ride an anti-Clinton sentiment, they built a true opposition movement with counter-proposals and solid leadership that began to take shape in the mid-1980s. The 1994 election was systematically planned well in advance, it wasn't just a case of the pendulum swinging. No such organization or strategic planning exists in the Republican Party today

4. Congressional elections weren't as poll driven on individual races as they arre today, they relied much more heavily on the congressional generic. This is why 1994 caught so many by suprise and why so many Dems who lost still had so much cash on hand after the race was over - they didn't even realize they were in danger and didn't bother advertising.

Again, though, if you want to think you can simply wait around because 'the pendulum is bound to swing back," go for it!!

Sen. Specter was right on the money. The PA GOP is far more right than what it was in the days of Governor Thornburgh and Senators Heinz and Specter. They supported what they felt was best for their constituents, not their party.
That's what got the PA GOP's nose out of joint when then-former Gov. Thornburgh lost to Harris Wofford in the special election to fill the seat after the death of Sen. Heinz.
Sen. Santorum ran in lock step with the right wing and ended up losing to empty suit riding his late father's coat tails.
It wasn't that long ago that the PA GOP lost one of it's best shots at taking back the Governor's Mansion when Barbara Hafer defected to the Dems. A year from election, it looks like the GOP is about to make history when, for the first time since the 1930s, the office of Governor of PA will not go back to the other party after one party is termed out.
Now, the GOP loses another Senator? When are they going to learn?
So keep shooting yourself in the foot GOP. When you wake up to see what's happening with this right-wing domination, it's going to be too late.

It's amazing to me how rude and petty people can be because someone is following their own personal beliefs. He is in Congress every day and sees how Republicans have changed and how right wing and damaging they have become. He says they no longer represent his values and they obviously no longer represent the majority! They are certainly no longer a kinder and gentler party. THEY got the the US where it is today...it was THEIR greedy bretheren on Wall Street, Bank leaders, and Corporate greeders who believed they deserved more. Those guys are all registered Republicans! The majority of the party are either rich, or the intolerant religious right, and mostly white who think they are better and somehow the deserved ones. (There are 5 Religions in this world-most older than Christianity - they are all paths to God.) I am white and I find those people offensive and destructive to the real values that this Country was based on by the Founding Fathers. They are the ones who are un-American because they have no humanity - unless it benefits themselves, or lines their own pockets, or supports their own version of zealous faith.

OKAY BLAME BLACK POWER-WE GET IT AND WE GOT IT SO, PUT IN YOUR BACK POCKET AND SOCK IT!

8 YEARS OF YOUR CRAP NOW THE COOKIE CRUMBLES AND THE CAKE IS RISING. OH IT WILL BE ON! TIRED OF YOUR DUMB BUNNY CRAP FOR REAL: HANGING CHAD! MASS DESTRUCTION AND BULL AND MORE BULL LIKE HUH: PALIN, STEELE, LIMBAUGH, BECK, CHANEY, BUSH AND ALL THEREOF. THANKS SPECTER THAT WAS SO GOOD! INSTANT REPLY PLEASE 6:00 NEWS

bmballard1: Show me a liberal with a rational mind and I will recant.
--------------------
RushTalk English Gloss:
liberal: Terrorist
rational: Conservative
recant: Continue to be an ass (see entry under 'bipartisanship')

Sadly, it's all too easy to find a terrorist with a conservative mind.

bmballard1 cried:
"Chrisfox, not crying in the least you little, lefty turd. I've wanted that liberal Specter out for quite some time.

You are another useful idiot."

==

heh heh heh

yeah I'm sure you're happy that your party is loing Senators. I mean, what's losing the power to affect policy compared to the power of ideological purity?

By the time you dummies are done purging your ranks of the impure and infirm, you'll have to caucus with the libertarians, Constitution Party, and Gun Owners before you can get admission to the Senate washroom.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. I live in PA. Specter sucks. Many conservatives sat out last election because we had no choice for president. That's called staying true to your principles. Arlen was the biggest liar, traitor, dirtbag. Obama is taking a bad situation and turning into Depression II.So tell me Obama-baggers, how is your life any better today than it was B.O. (before Obama)? Welfare checks comin' in?

GREAT!!!! Another reason for ALL Conservatives and protectors of the Constitution to come back and VOTE this time. By the time the Obamination kills most of the economic engines of this country, causes runaway inflation by printing worthless dollars and gives up our sovereignty to thug groups like the UN, people will stand in line 2 weeks before that polls open if they don't first, storm the White House with tar, feathers and a rail.

Remember the mid-'90s when Clinton's popularity was tanking, the GOP swept to power in the House and Senate, not one but TWO senators (Shelby and Cambell) switched their party affiliations from Democrat to the GOP, the DNC was in shambles....

Remember all those articles the Wash Post ran telling the Democrat party that it needed to 'move to the middle'? All those editorials telling the Democrats they needed to dump all those "left-wing extremists" like the militant gays and quasi-socialists who were infecting their party? Remember that?

ThisIsReality: Republicans are happy that Specter left the party. The dimwits on this board who pretend that republicans are mad about this are really ignorant. but wait..., they're Dumbocrats, aren't they? so naturally they're ignorant.
--------------------------------
Maybe you're not mad at Specter - perhaps it's just reality in general that upsets you. That would explain why you stopped returning its calls.

Remember the election of 1992? Ahhh, great times. Bill Clinton sweeps to power with a 'mandate for change'. Democrats control the Senate. Democrats control the House. FINALLY, the nasty ol' GOP is defeated once and for all, 'hope' is restored, and liberals set about to reshape America into Amerika.

Then came 1994.

The quickest way for the GOP to regain power is to let voters get a good taste of liberal...errrr, "progressive" politics again.

Posted by: bmballard1 | April 28, 2009 2:12 PM
We should start rounding up the liberals in this country, load them on planes, give each (grudingly) a parachute and shove 'em out somewhere over the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Let the terrorist scum they care more about protecting that our own soldiers show them what torture is all about.
Liberalism is a dangerous mental disorder. A cancer that must be removed from America before it is too late.
____________________________

Did you read this before you posted?
How do you think a rational mind would deal with this after reading it?
Ignore it? Try and help the person who wrote it? Any suggestions?

How does the GOP call itself a "big tent" party when they speak as they do about Specter being a RINO. What is their definition of a "big tent"?

If they really had a big tent, they could have kept Toomy from entering the primary and this would not have happened. Now if the Democrats are smart, they will pressure other Democrats to stay out of the primaries. Let the Republicans spend money on a primary and save your money to go after the GOP in the real election. But even before that, go after single payer health care as soon as you get to 60 because that is what they would most like to stop the will of the majority on.

41% can thwart the will of the majority. Do not trust the chance that you might get more people in the future. Nobody knows what will happen, who may die, who will get elected, etc.

For the long term viability of the country, we should pass this as soon as possible. As soon as the MN stall is over, they should move such a bill through. It is not too late to get it so that it even applies to the current flu.

It is interesting to me that the Republicans recruited Liebermann and then want to separate themselves from Specter (who may well be closer to them on more issues than than Lieberman). It's all about numbers and good to see this backfire in their faces.

Specter would not associate himself with the pro-torture party. He would not associate himself with a party full of secessionists. He would not associate himself with a party that torched America's house and then prevented the firemen from saving the people in the burning building.

The behavior of the Republican party over the last 16 years has been shameful. Only the most extreme anti-government reactionaries, urged on by the Moonie (S. Korean) and the Rupert (Aussie) press, are left. Why do they hate America??

Republicans are happy that Specter left the party. The dimwits on this board who pretend that republicans are mad about this are really ignorant. but wait..., they're Dumbocrats, aren't they? so naturally they're ignorant.

Ya know, the last pathetic remanents of the GOP refuse to listen to Vin Weber, David Schmidt, Mitch McConnel, heck even Karl Rove- they are all saying you guys are in trouble as a party,- Way to extreme and narrowly focused. 21% identify themselves as Republicans-You deny the polls that the country by a Whopping majority supporty the president, you deny the failure of the Tea bag parties, you ignore the massive switch of party by voters- not just in Pennsylvania, but across the country, you didn't get the point when Republican Colin Powell warned you before the election, Spector has left you and now even stalwart Fox Network has decided not review the new administration's first 100 days, the could be sued for inciting mass-suicide among there viewers.

The Repubican Party's answer to all economic problems is lower taxes, therefore starving the government. They are against providing health care. They are for unlimited access to guns, regardless of the fact that history has proven that our society has to many crazies to offer this option. They hate and demean gay people. They want to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Their spokesman spread hatred day in and day out across the airways of America. They maintain that there are no problems with the climate. They believe that such treaties and agreements as the Geneva Convention applies to everyone but us with regards to the treatment of prisoners of war. They label anyone who legitimately questions a war waged on lies and misformation a traitor. They believe that it is okay for a corrupt Supreme Court to decide presidential elections as oppossed to voters doing so. And on and on and on. Thank you Senator Specter! I left that horrible polical party about fifteen years ago. Hopefully other sensible senators such as Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins will follow suit.

Senator spector is one of the only lawmaker i ever had high regards for, his decision to switch parties is applauded by me. However, why now? Is it because he realized that he couldve been re-elected as a republican candidate or it was solely based on the facts that his ideas has always been liberal. Dont get me wrong Sen. Spector has been a critic of the Bush administration but why didnt him swicth his affliation...let say about a year ago. Im just saying. Well welcome to the Party Spector, now you can sit back and listen as that idiot Rush slam you.

We should start rounding up the liberals in this country, load them on planes, give each (grudingly) a parachute and shove 'em out somewhere over the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Let the terrorist scum they care more about protecting that our own soldiers show them what torture is all about.

Liberalism is a dangerous mental disorder. A cancer that must be removed from America before it is too late.

There are a lot of legends about the great state of Texas. Some are myths, some are true. I think that Texas can peacefully secede might be a myth, but the legend about Texas being able to split into five (5) separate states if it chooses might have some truth to it.

If this is so, then I think Texas can save our Bill of Rights from a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority simply by dividing into 5 separate states, and going from having 2 federal senators to 10.

Again, I want to research this more, but if there is any truth to it, then Texas can save the U.S. Constitution, Texas can save our nation's freedoms.

Posted by: robtay12003 | April 28, 2009 1:57 PM | Report abuse
It's about time, and good riddance. Now we need to purge Snow from the party, and any others who've abandoned their prinicples and caused Republican defeats these past two elections.
________________________________

Good afternoon Rbtay,,ha ya doin?
Are you saying getting rid of GOPers that actually win elections is the way to win more elections. I can't quite follow that logic. Should I start listening more to Rush Limbaugh. What am I missing here?
BTW if the principles you speak of are those of Rush Limbaugh,,that's exactly why people are leaving!!!
Specter said as much!

Oh my gosh! This is going to totally disrupt the equilibrium of the Natural Order of Things, reverse the magnetic poles, and cause much gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness. Similar socialist, spectres slyly suspend suspicion-speculation, so Specter's spectacular sneaky secession succeeds speedily.
Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"http://sskotb.blogspot.com/

JC5933: If it were not for President Bush and Rick Santorum campaigning for him 2004 he would not have beaten Toomey in that election.
--------------------------
We're all clear on the difference between primaries and general elections, right? I'm sure Specter never missed a chance to remind voters of these endorsements after he beat Toomey for the looney vote.

You nincompoops can screech about "left wing extremists" all you like, it's not catching on. Kinda funny to see how far out in right field you've drifted, that members of your own sorry party look like Maoists to you.

Just shut up. Your side lost hard, continues to lose, and you can get as enraged as you like but there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.

As a Pennsylvanian, I am glad to see Specter finally admit he's a Democrat in Republican garb. Shady that he's doing it to avoid competition, while 'taking all comers', but I'm used to that stuff from him. Maybe the PA GOP can find a real fiscal conservative (the only conservative issue that matters to me) to take his place.

The GOP seems to be splintering, with some like Specter going to the Dems where he belongs, the significant anti-war Ron Paul types steadily going independent, and the remaining die-hard, pro-war Republicans-for-life left wondering why no one comes to their parties anymore.

Reliable sources are now revealing that another moderate Republican senator from the North East is also in talks with the DNC for the possibilities of switching from GOP to DNC.
Senator Specter’s transform is already having an altering effect on GOP. The Republicans are now paranoid to cause another moderate to switch that they are signaling willingness to work with the president. The whole North East is almost elected GOP FREE! The Republican party is reduced to a regional party now—Party of South.
Thank you Republican Wing-Nuts. Please keep it up till you drive all moderates out of the party:-)

The above comment:"Senator Specter has been a mainstream MODERATE forever using careful thought and reason on his positions"--is part of the Obama media response teams talking points to tell whatever lies it takes---knowing some readers will believe them.

I offer as proof of their "untruths" their actual left wing Liberal Senate voting records. An honest review of these records prove Specter was anything but "moderate". In fact Specter has the 3rd most liberal Republican voting record in the US Senate--falling behind only Senators Collins and Snowe. These three Senators are continually described as "Moderates" by the liberal media--How I ask Washington Post Bloggers can the three Republicans with the most liberal Senate voting records be continually called moderates?
Answer: Only by left wing extremists standards are these Senators moderate... when their voting record proves otherwise.

The poster did not bother pointing out that Senator Obama was the MOST LIBERAL VOTING MEMBER IN THE entire U.S. SENATE!

Does that make the President a Left-wing extremist?I say Yes. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgotthat only Conservatives can be considered "extremists"--not left wing liberals?

The party of Aholes just got another one.
Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Frank/Another Ahole
Our future generations of intelligent kids will wonder what happen to America, the constitution, the Bill of Rights and the freedoms guaranteed to them by these documents and the blood shed by those that helped to craft them. There's a good chance that future generations of those not willing to accept the trashing of these rights that protect them FROM govenment and not willing to give up their souls to the Bondage of Socialism will spit on the graves of those who let this happen after more than 200 years.

As far as Arlen Specter is concerned, he has been dead for the last 20 years, but no one has told him yet. If it were not for President Bush and Rick Santorum campaigning for him 2004 he would not have beaten Toomey in that election. Bush & Santorum made a deal with the devil democrat back in 04. Specter finally has done what most conservatives have wanted him to do for years, which is to get with his own kind. If the liberals want to win in PA in 2010 they better start looking for a candidate that is not 80 years old and who has almost checked out three times already. Democrats, you are celebrating before you have won. You think liberals would learned their lesson. The conservatives will see in 2010, by then unemployment should be about 10% or more. We will see you again in 2012, by then things should be real bad, in all likelyhood another terrorest attack (I hope not, but fear for the worst)that will be the end of you guys for awhile, but not for ever because you can't keep a good wimp down. People somehow feel sorry for the weak.

"Another item in a long running list of things that are terminally wrong with the US political process. Specter ran and was elected as a republican. The citizens of Pennsylvania and of the United States deserve a republican in that office - good or bad - until the end of his term. Otherwise - the money he used to win his seat was taken dishonestly. The people that paid for and supported his election were deceived. That is true whether you like Specter or not."

This is actually one of the GOOD things about politics in this country- we elect people, not parties. If you're voting for the party label rather than the person, that's your first mistake and you deserve what you get.

As for other commentators suggesting a special election or an interim appointment, don't you realize you'd be letting Ed Rendell nominate a centrist, but pro-Labor Dem for the interim, who would be heavily favored to beat Toomey and Specter?

I thought Arlen Specter died in the Civil War......he won't live to the 2010 election.....having to be called a Democrat in order to win in 2010 will kill him......the old buzzard.......Pat Toomey is safe.....

I think it means one of two things: First and most importantly it’s a wake-up for the R party to reclaim itself not as a tool of the far right but as a legitimate opposition party against the excesses of large and expansive government. Hopefully the R party will get a voice that runs center-right rather than extreme right to moderately right. However, the party may do the opposite and collapse even more and become more extreme. I happen to remember when in the late 90s early 2000 the D party was losing its broad appear and there were a few party switches. Howard Dean has done a masterful job at re-engineering the D party too bad he has been left out in the cold.

The other aspect of this is that the D now owns the economy and what happens to it especially with large looming deficits. If recent history is any lesson when one party controls all parts of the government there is little incentive to control spending be tax cuts or expanded government programs. I for one was repulsed by the hypocrisy of the R in terms of deficits; however, I am equally appalled at the large deficits the D are now running and plan to run into the far future. The D play budget gimmicks just as well as R.

You guys ought to go over on fox.com and click on their article about Specter, then read the comments. Oh what material! You can't make this stuff up. Guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. Oh man, somebody better check on Rush and make sure the oxi-cotin is out of reach.

ath28: Republicans keep forgetting that the job of a Senator is to represent the people of your state, not the people of your party. He has been doing that well for years as a Republican, but lately has been savagely attacked from the right for doing what the majority of his constituents want done.
------------------------
You're forgetting - a constituent is someone who agrees with conservative values. Everyone else is a terrorist. Were the last eight years a complete waste?

What the odds now that the Al Franken case has to go the Supreme court? What's the odds that Uncle Thomas votes to stop the count on this one,,like he did in the 2000 Florida National election.
10 to one it has to go all the way to Clarence!
100 to 1 Uncle Thomas votes that the count be started over!!

Uh oh! Rush, now what are we gonna do?
Here's a recently overhead conversation between Rush and Mr. Steele, the neocon, new "leader" of the repubs.

Steele: Uh Rush, Can I get up now? I've been licking your shoes for an hour now, and my knees are cranky.
Rush: Michael, sure kid, no problem - just don't forget who the Ditto King is.
Steele: Uh Rush, this just in on my Black Berry. Spector is going over to the left side.
Rush: You mean he's moving to California?
Steele: No, I mean he's becoming the 59th democratic senator. Rush - you must do something. Double the power on your DittoCast this afternoon. Rush, I'm scared...
Rush: Now, now, Michael - I'll call him a left wing commie, and everything will be fine. The name calling thing always works. Look at Dickie boy - he's been hard at it for neary 100 days, and it's been oh so effective. Er, ah Michael - pass me those pills and the bucket of Chicken. These pills go down oh so much easier with a drumstick chaser...
Steele: Rush - I know, I'll release a statement saying nasty things about Spector too. Rather than be respectful to his 29 years in the senate, I can say something small and petty.
Rush: Excellent - just say something like
"...he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record..."
Steele: Perfect - thanks your Ditto-ness. You're the greatest...

Reliable sources are now revealing that another moderate Republican senator from the North East is also in talks with the DNC for the possibilities of switching from GOP to DNC.
Senator Specter’s transform is already having an altering effect on GOP. The Republicans are now paranoid to cause another moderate to switch that they are signaling willingness to work with the president. The whole North East is almost elected GOP FREE! The Republican party is reduced to a regional party now—Party of South.

As a Democrat, I view this as opportunistic, with Specter positioning himself to win in 2010.

The tougher thing to do would be to continue to vote independently, and remain with his party. I am sure he was promised prime Committee positions with this move by the Democrats. Overreach may be inevitable now on the most important issues.

oh yes!! another repudiation of the neo-cons in america!! now if gov. rick perry would just pack up his state and leave the union we could have a little normalcy around this place!!! and that should also just about put the final torpedo in norm colemans battleship!!! i feel a warm glow creeping in.

Two words for Republicans twisted out of shape by Specter's "betrayl": Stom and Thurmond. Without the Dixiecrats switch to the Republican party, because they realized the Democrats no longer could abide with their regional, racist views and felt at home with the Lee Atwater message Reagan was pumping out. Now we are seeing the perfection of the Republican Party's Southern Strategy: You've been reduced to a regional, out of step minority. Thank you.

ekim53: Just another toxic asset removed that kept many conservatives away from the polls altogether.
--------------------------------
Ah, the elusive conservative voters! These would be the same mythical creatures who rescued Rick Santorum's reelection bid, no? No doubt they have us surrounded.

The onus is now on the Democratic party to show that it can behave more rationally and honorably than the Republicans did when they were in charge. I am no fan of one-party government (even when I'm registered in that party) but that is what we are stuck with until we can take the GOP off life support and replace it with something better.

The spelling (on both sides of the fence) is nothing short of abhorrent. The name calling and mocking are juvenile and irrelevant. Can we stick to the issues? If we succeed, We The People will. Not BECAUSE of government, but in spite of it.

Well, as a conservative republican, I can say that it is sad to see Sen. Spector leave our party. He is a highly intelligent man with deep beliefs & knowledge on constitutional issues. Those nuts in the Pa. R party have ran him off b/c of his very respectable moderate stances. Spector knows & loves his state of Pennsylvania and the people in it. I can't believe he left the party, however. I think Spector could & would have beaten Toomey in the primary had he ran it. Spector had already been endorsed by NRSC chairman John Cornyn. They were prepared to spend against Toomey, plus Spector's already $5.5 million already banked. People respect Spector enough to register R to vote for him against Spector in the primary to pull out the win. Now, Toomey has the R nomination all sewed up and will be in the general. The question is, will Spector have a democratic primary challenge? My assumption will be yes. Spector's vote on card check is nay. Spector seemed poised to vote against Obama's budget. Those 2 votes will likely be enough, plus his 29 years as a Republican in the US Senate, is certainly enough to have a strong democratic challenge from the left. Either way Spector goes, he is getting challenged from the left & right. I really thought Spector would drop from the R primary and run as an independent all along. I think he should b/c I think that's where he belongs. That is what Snarlin Arlen is: an independent senator for the state of Pennsylvania. I wish every state truly had a senator who follows conviction for the best of their state!

We knew you had it in you young Skywalker. Flee the dark side. And to the remaining five or six Rockefeller Republicans left in the GOP: come over to the light side. Leave the GOP for the dank, dismal dungeon it is.

Ha..Ha..Ha.....All the angry Republicans blogging today about Senator Spector (D)!
Keep steering to the far right guys! Apparently the GOP is clueless why 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans switched their party affiliation last year and then voted for President Obama! Try and spin that stat! 60 Majority in the Senate!!!

What do you expect. Senator Specter is like most of our politicians. Weasels that switch positions depending on which way the wind blows. He can join up with the likes of Barney Frank and the rest of the "un-accountables".

ath28: Republicans keep forgetting that the job of a Senator is to represent the people of your state, not the people of your party. He has been doing that well for years as a Republican, but lately has been savagely attacked from the right for doing what the majority of his constituents want done.
------------------------
You're forgetting - a constituent is someone who agrees with conservative values. Everyone else is a terrorist. Were the last eight years a complete waste?

While W.R.Grace was appointed by Reagan to head a commission to seek out and destroy "unnecessary government regulations," Grace's company was systematically covering up his company's allowing the sickness and death of thousands of people in Libby, Montana, who were inhaling asbestos fibers from the strip-mining of W.R.Grace's Zonolite insulation. It contained huge amounts of the toxic particulate, and they knew it since the 1950s. The plant did not close until 1990. W.R.Grace never admitted guilt or remorse.

The Republicans continue to wave the "deregulation" government-off-our-backs banner.

Ha..Ha..Ha.....All the angry Republicans blogging today about Senator Spector (D)!
Keep steering to the far right guys! Apparently the GOP is clueless why 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans switched their party affiliation last year and then voted for President Obama! Try and spin that stat! 60 Majority in the Senate!!!

Yeah, there's a huge political upside for Spector, but if you honestly look at his record, he's a moderate, always has been. His voting records shows that he really does align more closely with the Democrats. More importantly, considering how his constituency has shifted politically, it makes sense. The republican party left him with the far right shift - and it wouldn't surprise me if other more moderate republicans do the same. Country before party, remember?

He is not a traitor. Republicans keep forgetting that the job of a Senator is to represent the people of your state, not the people of your party. He has been doing that well for years as a Republican, but lately has been savagely attacked from the right for doing what the majority of his constituents want done. How can the Republican party argue for 'personal responsibility' and 'party unity' at the same time? The concepts are exclusive.

I really appreciate your statesmanship and honesty. Penitence, Sir, is even greater than innocence.

I wish Senator Mc Cain would follow suit. As a widely travelled and Vietnamese War-veteran, Senator Mc Cain knows he has to be in rectitude, only he has to act.

Senator Mc Cain, do thy duty to the nation and to the flag and salute to a higher principle. I would respect you all the more for it and it would make you taller in the hearts and minds of all your country-men. Please do it and come above trifles.

200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans from Specter's district left the GOP and joined the Democratic party last cycle. This reduced the remaining party members down to the super right wing born again idiots who think only about their gun, their dog, their pickup truck, and their woman (in that order too).

Arlen Spector just doesn't know when to walk off the stage. He will be 82 in 2012 and should step aside and let a new generation of politicians take over. He is like Liberman who will do anything to stay in the spotlight and I will happy when both of them retire. When you walk the halls of the Senate Office building it is starting to seem like an assisted living facility. I could care less what party he is just go home and watch television instead of always trying to be on it.

Weather report from Hell:
Temperature: 31° F and falling ...
Posted by: fbeseler | April 28, 2009 12:24 PM
==
Thanks, fb.
You gave me my laugh for the day.
I got tickled at someone the other day when Al Gore was testifying before Congress claiming that there was no such thing as "global warming" because in some areas, temperatures were cooler than usual.
Then I head on the "Future of Earth" special on MSNBC Sunday night that, if the Arctic sea ice dissolves, there is a possibility that huge areas of northern Europe could experience a new ice age, with permanent winter year 'round.
(It may have something to do with a shift in the tilting of Earth on its axis and the planet's relationship to the Sun during the seasons.)
Think about this:
As ultra right-wing nuts in the GOP make it hot as Hades for any Republican to drift from the ideologically idiotic line of their brand of "conservatism," they tend to freeze out anyone who doesn't toe to their demands.
And they don't understand global warming?
Hard to believe they can be that blind, isn't it?
:-)

brucehiggins1253 wrote: "There is a very old saying that applies to the Democrats if they get a 60 vote majority: "Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first lift on high."

Well hey, that sort of explains what happened to the republicans after 6 years of a majority and doing NOTHING except neglecting their duties, spending taxpayer money like a drunken democrat, spying on and lying to America, and now we find out torturing people.

Republicans got lifted up, abused their power and got dropped on their heads. The real problem though is that after the election las November many were talking about a review, seeking out why they lost and what needed to change. I think Spector waited for that process, which seems to be going no where because now that repubicans accept the Limbaugh/Rove/Cheney leadership of the party, who see NOTHING wrong with the republican party and in fact they were right all along. Its America that is wrong in their minds. Sane men and women will see this as more than just boasting, more than just arrogance, they will see it as insanity and I expect more to jump, and soon.

Well all I can say is now Reid can pass things at the same speed as Nancy.

Hello Trillions. we no longer need to debate, or read any bills as we know what we wrote, and dont need to get any bipartisonship. Feel sorry for my greatgrand kids. they are going to owe a lot of money.

Interesting that all the Democratic postings can be summarized as "Yeah, take that you Republicans! We beat you! Naw-naw-naw." Whatever happend to being excited about what's best for America? What ever happend to change? Remember all those slogans during the Obama campaign? I guess it really was all just about power and bitterness after all. The sharp decline in cooperation once Obama took over should have already made that clear..but it's getting clearer still.

Funny thing happened to Barack's attempt at bipartisanship. Rush's "I HOPE HE FAILS, LET'S VOTE NO ON EVERTHING" has made it clear that there is no way to get bipartisan votes if the only thing the other party is interested in is your destruction.
What has happened now makes it quite clear to any sane Republican that they must get rid of the lunatics!

President Obama just spoke about the Air Force One incident in a photo op with FBI Director Robert Mueller. "It was a mistake, as was stated. It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again."

Now about that giant hole where a city used to be. It was a mistake. We found out about it along with all of you. The Obambi administration will try not to let it happen again. He is just that kind of leader.

I hope that Harry "the worm" Reid is working on BOTH Senators from Maine to also make the change helping themselves as well as Obama in making the changes that are needed for this Country. Both of them are really much to realistic & smart to continue to stay in the Confederate republican religious party. The two of them along with Specter have brains, use them & there is NO place for thinking people in the Confederate republican party.

News of Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch today comes after several months of strong statements to the contrary by the Pennsylvania Senator.In a March 17th interview with The Hill, Specter said he absolutely would not switch parties:[Democrats] are trying very hard for the 60th vote. Got to give them credit for trying. But the answer is no.

Specter switched his voter registration to Republican back in the '60s so he could run in the election to be the DA for Philly. Now, he's goin' back home.

Delighted as I am, one must recognize that he's stabbing the GOP in the back. After all, despite his RINO-ness, the party backed him the last election, and allowed him to be Judiciary chair when they had the majority, though he implied he would not toe the Party line. Admittedly, that didn't do very much for my side of the fence (see Samuel Alito and John Roberts), no doubt because Specter needed to pay his dues to the NRSC for having supported him.

If he'd switched sides in 1986, when Bork was nominated and Specter voted against him; or in the '90s when he openly said that the GOP-appointed judges on the SC were a bunch of revisionists, this could have been seen as an act of principle. As it is, it's just a case of a tired old man who can't let go of a Senate seat that he's now occupied for 5 terms and is running scared, doing whatever it takes to win.

If he had been a Democrat and had a stiff challenge in the primary, he would have switched to the GOP in a heartbeat.

hey putzel good luck trying to cast's Specter's move as a betrayal, much less as illegal.

Fact of the matter is, it would be irresponsible to continue caucasing with the GOP. They are not doing the nation's business, they are standing in the way. Helping to enable their obstruction would be the betrayal.

Wanna bet more GOP in Congress abandon the sinking ship? I wouldn't bet against it ...

Frankin will be seated in July and the Democrats will have a 60 seat majority.

My prediction is that the Palin, Limbaugh, Hannity, tea bagging branch of the party will then simply go insane. Threats of violence, revolution and secession will become even more overt than they are now and "Republican Reality" will become even more divorced from the space time continuum that surrounds us. Stories of Obama practicing witchcraft and eating babies will surface on a daily basis.

This will reduce the party to a small pack of violent, ignorant, rage filled screaming wingnuts isolated to small towns in the deep south.

I also predict that the rational branch of the Republican Party, i.e., the Paul Craig Roberts and Pat Buchanans, will cease trying to win elections and simply separate from this pack of kooks. And then form their own small conservative party. One that serves a rational watchdog role as a sort of hyper think tank.

For the rest of our lifetimes this small seed party will grow and eventually become a national party on par with what the Republican Party once was,

For those who remember the Warren Commission testimony by then young Senator Specter who told us of the Magic Bullet. Yes this was long before Harry Potter, as Specter said one bullet travel in and out of steele, bodies, and metal as it kill JFK. Now the surprise to me was adults believe that bull. My Dad said a Senator would lie when I asked him why Specter was lying under oath. Sen. Specter sees his Republican voters have changed Parties and he would lose the election as a Republican. Like any Snake that changes colors Specter is only changing to keep getting free money and will as a true Snake he is stab the Obama Administration in the back when given the chance. Specter sold his soul to the Devil a long time ago and there's no turning back.

Say hello to your worst nightmare, dittoheads, a Democratic super majoriy. Think it can't get any worse for Republicans? Remember that Rush The Junkie is your party's de facto leader heading into the next election and despair.

Posted by: PattiORiley,
It is simply Orwellian.
Liberals control everything and now Specter increases their power, but the hate spewing posts are 90% from Libs. Republican posts generally accept Specter’s move as long overdue.
____________________________

Check this one out Patti:
-----------------------------------
Arlen Specter - people you would like to see featured in an Islamic snuff film.
Posted by: SharpshootingPugilist | April 28, 2009 12:03 PM
-------------------------------
Is that part of the general acceptance you speak of?

Ronald Reagan's big tent is now a shrinking pup tent and might soon be replaced by a phone booth, where the Senate's remaining fascists can have their McCarthyite hearings, and ceremonies with their torches and robes.

Every Rethug should have to tear up their Medicare and Social Security cards and be forbidden to take any medications, because they're supported by those socialist taxes. Oh, and don't walk down the street or drive your car or take the bus, or eat inspected food or drink inspected water or breathe clean air or take guaranteed vacation time or sick leave or.......

Why is anybody in the Just Say No party. Their extreme no's on anything that Obama proposes is childish and, hopefully, becoming irrelevant. Relevancy is being part of the solutions to the country's problems. These Republicans are pitiful as well as the conservative mouthpieces who support them.

Liberals control everything and now Specter increases their power, but the hate spewing posts are 90% from Libs.
----------
See, one of Orwell's main arguments was that specific words have particular meanings. "Hate" and "disagree" are not synonyms, regardless of what "Limbaugh's Guide to the American Language" might tell you. Orwellian? Not quite. Ironic? You betcha.

Another item in a long running list of things that are terminally wrong with the US political process. Specter ran and was elected as a republican. The citizens of Pennsylvania and of the United States deserve a republican in that office - good or bad - until the end of his term. Otherwise - the money he used to win his seat was taken dishonestly. The people that paid for and supported his election were deceived. That is true whether you like Specter or not.

This kind of thing should not be allowed by our process. This is one more example of the lawlessness and selfishness of our politicians. Ultimately, it is self-serving. Whether you are a liberal, moderate or conservative - this kind of thing is bad for all of us. We experience this kind of thing over and over again now - from our government, from large corporations - from all of the institutions we thought we could trust.

It is another example of the continued degradation of respect for law and for us - the American citizens. They stick this stuff right in our faces. We've learned to take it, expect it and accept it. It is sickening.

When a moderate republican is unable to win in a primary because of party rules allowing only registered members to vote, and given that usually only the most right-wing voters participate in the primary, it is hardly surprising that Sen. Specter made the decision he did. Only 1/3 of voters identify themselves as hard-line conservatives, which means that it is going to be increasingly difficult for the moderate wing of the Republican Party to win elections. It's too bad for the country, because a big-tent party is more successful, and we need two of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this. Sen. Specter is welcome in the Democratic Party. The wingnuts are going to be screaming "traitor", but they dug their own grave.

farkdawg wrote:
The language the right wing is using right now is actually getting dangerous.

- I agree wholeheartedly. As an independent, I am actually considering the purchase of a gun to protect myself from the rallying right-wing zealots. I fear another civil war is coming with some of the recent secession talks in Texas and the bandwaggoners on message boards and at TEA parties. The debate has not advanced, it's actually devolved to name-calling from the right and the left thinking they can still reason with the hate-spewing right. I sit in the middle wondering when this is going to boil over, and if it does boil over, whether it's water or oil that's in the pan bubbling onto the flame.

goober the gooper wrote:
"Specter was elected by the people of PA as a Republican, not a Demokraut(sic). Being with neither of these parties, I hope I'm not alone when he comes up for reelection. The voters of PA must remember this at that time, if the country is still able to function as such at that time, and is not under some form of martial law, due to the path we are on."

This is great! However, consider that Specter would likely have faced a conservative in the upcoming primary. This is more about Specter preserving his own position than it is about being more in tune with Democrats. I still don't trust him.

This shrewd old politician knew that there's no more future for the Repubtards - certainly not like the Reagan and Bush eras when their deceptively packaged agendas badly damaged our country and discredited them as the party for the common folks - which it never was, is, or will be. He knows that America won't get fooled, again, by GOP the Greedy Obstructive Party.

Typical far-right conservative comment-comparing Specter's switch to the Democratic party to Judas betrayal of Jesus! (His accepting his 30 pieces of silver) What a joke. And warning him to be careful because "[democrats] love abortion and eat their own" is exactly what progressives expect a far right nutjob to say.

No one loves abortion you self-righteous moron...some people just believe that it is a woman's choice and should NOT be made by the government. If you don't believe in abortion - don't have one. But every woman knows her own unique situation and is best equiped to make that decision.

If you would stop demonizing Democrats "in your own mind" and start understanding their take on the issues - you might feel a sense of liberation instead of all that self-righteous hate that you somehow accept as a normal part of a "conservative" life.

Sen. Specter has done the right thing in labeling himself a Democrat which he has been implicitly and uncomfortably for years while he kept the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee as a Republican. That said, he ought to have enough respect for his constituents to resign and run as a Democrat in a special election. The last member of Congress I can recall doing this was Phil Gramm, who left the Dem Party in 1983, joined the GOP, honorably resigned, and won a special election later that year. The people who chose Specter as a Republican ought to have their say as to whether they want that seat held by a Democrat on his own whim.

Good to have you, Senator Specter. Sad for the Republican party that a moderate like you no longer feels at home with them. Our country needs a two (or three or four) party system, but the republicans are driving their party off a cliff.

It is pathetic, that this senior senator from PA, changing parties.He should resign and stand for re-election as if the post was vacated. Let the governor replace him for the interim.It is a shame and a sham.

Normally I'd be leery of either party having a filibuster-proof majority, but the GOP has abandoned conservatism in favor of naked pandering to the haters and the fearful while trying their damndest to continue to subsidize the richest 1% of the country on the backs of the other 99%. Despite the fact that they lost overwhelmingly last year, they still unashamedly embrace obstructionism for the sake of party, and to hell with the country. Add to this their embrace of the religious fundie-nuts and the teabaggers and you have a desperate party on its last legs. Sen. Specter is no idiot (unlike his former fellow PA senator, Rick "men will be marrying turtles" Santorum) and can see, just as Jim Jeffords did in 2001, that the Republican agenda is losing its relevance in the eyes of the electorate.

Welcome aboard, Sen. Specter. Maybe this will wake up the GOP and get them to return to their conservative roots. But don't hold your breath.

Snowe and Collins are sure to follow, who'd want to remain in a party as extreme as the GOP?

As for McCain, you guys can keep him. Democrats don't need a damaged-goods liar yapping about earmarks and bridges to nowhere and of such unsound judgment as to choose Sarah Palin for "real responsibilities"

After reading some of the ugly comments here from the Right, it's no wonder Senator Spector and so many others are leaving the Republican Party. Just because someone disagrees with some of what you believe in doesn't mean that he's the incarnation of evil.

Once again, folks, it's time for the LEFT-WING HATEFEST!
Spew hatred against everyone who dares to think differently than them and NOT BE QUIET ABOUT IT!
Have the fences been erected around the sites of the new Re-Education Camps yet?
Posted by: NeverLeft
-------------------------------------------------
It is simply Orwellian.

Liberals control everything and now Specter increases their power, but the hate spewing posts are 90% from Libs. Republican posts generally accept Specter’s move as long overdue.

This changes nothing in the Senate other than perception. Specter will cast the same votes, no matter which party he caucuses with, so the Dems are no closer to avoiding cloture than before. And how far does Specter move the Senate Democratic Caucus toward the right by participating with them? I'm not so sure this is much of a gift to the Senate Dems.

What does change is how PA Dems approach the upcoming race. Presumably, the party regulars have committed to giving Specter their pro-forma support. But will Demo primary voters follow suit?

Specter was elected by the people of PA as a Republican, not a Demokraut(sic). Being with neither of these parties, I hope I'm not alone when he comes up for reelection. The voters of PA must remember this at that time, if the country is still able to function as such at that time, and is not under some form of martial law, due to the path we are on.

It's one thing to be a swing voter, but a swing politician is sleezy. How can someone make a career out of politics and turn his back on his base. This career politician has got to go. His state needs a people's representative. It's the only democratic thing to do; I hope voters can see through this veil of deceit.

The real question remaining is how long will Snowe & Collins stay in the Republican Party? Neither of those two belong there.That will make the Republicans a regional party. Kind of like the Southern Democrats of the 1850's.

Of course he went Democrat- he knew he would have lost in his re-election bid as a Republican. Put whatever left spin you want on this but it is a very good day for Republicans who will gain a seat in 2010. The left is always welcome to the right's dregs! Al Franken! LOL.

The language the right wing is using right now is actually getting dangerous.

Everyone is called a socialist, they use facsist, they put people into these categories if the person simply disagrees with them. They have tea parties when no one's taxes have gone up. They don't offer any specific evidence of why someone is a socialist and it isn't apparent, from their use of these words, that they know what they mean. They say things like you're a socialist - because you are.

This sort of groupthink is dangerous and can lead to very serious activities. The administration needs to address this problem by tackling these issues directly. Let's not shy away from this nonsense. If someone is telling you that you are a socialist or fascist or drinking the Kool-aid - ask them what they mean. Challenge them and don't back down. Obviously I don't mean challenge them in any sort of physical way, but ask them nicely what they mean or for an example and how that makes the word they are using relevant.

This is all a little laughable to a lot of us but the more it goes unchecked the bigger problem it becomes!

The real q is, has a deal been made to clear the Democratic primary field for Specter? Because in a contested Dem primary he's far, far from a lock, facing the same problem on his left he faced with Toomey on his right. Really, I do have a reservoir of respect for Arlen, but why should any Dem vote for him when we've been trying for twenty years to get rid of him?

We can almost certainly elect a real Democrat if Toomey's the opponent; why on earth would we choose a fake one instead?

NeverLeft screeched:
"Spew hatred against everyone who dares to think differently than them "

==

Heh heh heh funny reading you nincompoops trying to use relativism in your anguish. Sorry but it has nothing to do with "thinking differently," it has everything to do with the fact that you GOP 21-percenters have lost your effing minds.

"For procedural issues and for calls to vote on Presidential nominees (I'm thinking judges in particular here) a 60 vote majority is important for the Democrats. However, when it comes to passing laws the Democrats do not have a liberal 60 votes. Getting the votes of Specter, Snowe and Collins is easier than the two Democratic senators from Montana."

Umm, you don't need 60 votes to pass laws- you need them to overcome the procedural hurdle of the filibuster which allows the measure to come to a vote. The problem in recent years is that, due to partisanship, the filibuster and final passage have been too closely tied because of threats from the base. Now, however, Specter will be in a position to vote procedurally for cloture (not worried about the R base so much anymore), but against a bill thereby allowing it to pass. Win for Dems on the bills and for Specter getting to vote as he feels, bad for the Republican Party.

Even on EFCA, he said he'd sustain a filibuster to allow for changes, all we need is one or two minor tweaks to give him cover and I bet he'll vote for cloture.

The recently staged tea parties are closer to "odius sexual practices" than with the Boston Tea Party, hence why the term teabagging is more appropriate. I'd debate whether the actual act of teabagging should in itself be deemed "odious." I guess your classification of it tells us in which position you usually find (request?) yourself when engaging in said act, and the cleanliness of your chosen partners.

DickCheneysDutchOvenCookies:

No more so than YOUR confound "teabagging" with odious sexual practices.

I lost all respect for Sen. Spector in the last senate race when, after 24 years in the senate, he chose to attack his opponent rather than state a SINGLE thing he had accomplished! Don't tell me why I shouldn't vote for the other guy, tell me why I should vote for you! 24 years with nothing positive to stand on. It is much easier for me to believe that this is a move to get re-elected, not a move to the party he more strongly agrees with. Man of principal?? Not in my book.

this is a great day for the republicans now we can get this back stabbing hypocrit out and a real rep in . I had already decided to support Toomey. Spector has been a dem since 1989 anyway now is official.Good riddance Mr.spectior

Posted by: richfish069 | April 28, 2009 1:00 PM | Report abuse
-----
Please..you all haven't won an election in the past two cycles. I wouldn't get too excited about getting anyone "in". You should be more concerned about stopping the bleeding than making any gains. A successful election for the rethugs would be only losing 5% of their seats.

rudy011: He walks like a duck, he quacks like a duck......he's finally declaring he's a duck!! What a shock! Look at voting records if you need to decide which party someone belongs in.....don't listen to what they tell you.... look at what they do!!

Specter saw the writing on the wall: trying to maintain a moderate wing in the Republican Party would be like trying to maintain a moderate wing in the party of Ayatollah Khomeini...and for the exact same reason. The GOP has been taken over by radical, extremist religious fundamentalists. The GOP ayatollahs drove Specter out.

I think the strength of conservativism is on the rise - FAST. thanks to out of control liberalism/spending/taxing that is why a liberal republican like spector needs the aircover of the dem party...no way he wins in the newly strengthed R party.

GREAT NEWS for Conservatives and those who favor limited government.

Posted by: capntrips

-I think you've been sipping directly from Hannity's sauce if this is what you believe. Specter may have lost the primary in the Repub camp, but certainly not guaranteed to lose. However, if he would have he probably would have pulled a Lieberman and won the total race. He would then have caucused with the Dems.

What you're really viewing is one of the longest serving moderate Republican Senators throwing in the towel regarding a responsible Republican party. He sees it for what it is and realizes that it's wrong. The tent in the party is narrow and covered with elephant dung. he's sick of stepping in it. So he'll put nation above party and attempt to practice good governance vs hatred of gov't. Why are there so many public "servants" who hate their employer? It makes 0 sense.

I am happy that the Democrats are closer to 60 votes in the Senate now, but Specter's move might be a "problem in disguise" for the Democrats. Specter's age and recent battles with cancer could make his re-election next year less than certain if voters are worried about such things. For example, what if Specter's cancer returns only days before the election? He really should retire already. The Democrats need a younger and more progressive (pro-union) candidate as their nominee in Pennsylvania.

"I think the strength of conservativism is on the rise - FAST. thanks to out of control liberalism/spending/taxing that is why a liberal republican like spector needs the aircover of the dem party...no way he wins in the newly strengthed R party."

When conservatism was on the rise, Senators tended to move TOWARDS the Republican party (Shelby in 1994, Campbell in 1995, etc). The polls, the electorate, and now members of the Senate clearly show the momentum going the other way. Believe whatever you like though, all the better for the nation as you marginalize yourselves further. Happy teabagging!

For procedural issues and for calls to vote on Presidential nominees (I'm thinking judges in particular here) a 60 vote majority is important for the Democrats. However, when it comes to passing laws the Democrats do not have a liberal 60 votes. Getting the votes of Specter, Snowe and Collins is easier than the two Democratic senators from Montana. Once Franken is confirmed, contrary to what Fox News will predict, the Dems will not be running wild in some hippie fantasy world, they will be constrained by their most conservative members: the Western Senators (the Pacific coast is not west in this sense.)

capntrips wrote: "let the liberals and socialists do what they want...open field running for socialism...get out of the way and let Americans see what an unfettered liberals and socialists will do..."

Well, they like social security so much even smart republicans will not touch it (which explains why Bush did touch it a few years ago). They also like Medicare. They also like using the federal highway and free airwaves for consumers, all examples of socialism. What you republicans need to do is explain why all that Americans love is really bad for them.

capntrips wrote: "the pendulum will swing back - fast and hard."

Oh yes, democrats have learned that many times. But again, the republicans will need to explain why they are no longer like they are today because today no one will vote for them today. No one will vote for torture, well, not the necessary independents anyway. No one will vote to do away with socialist programs you republicans hate. So what is your message? We want to make your life worse than we did the last 8 years?

As for Spector, I admire the man and his ability to be independent when he felt it was right. However it has been evident to many that he leaned toward the democrats but remained republican to get the votes. Now that the votes are not there he jumps. I can see why some are rollig their eyes, but I'll consider his track record and welcome him. He's a good man, and all good men should think about their republican party, the party of torture, lying, spying on Americans and negligence in doing the jobs they were elected to do. Republicans who believe in government need to jump or change the party from within. Good luck with that.

I mean, the republican ship is sinking and everytime Limbaugh, Rove or Cheney opens their mouth they fire a shot into the hull. Who will rebuild the party? No one because many conservatives feel it is in good shape. You only have to think what the smart men on a ship would do if they saw their officers purposely sinking the ship. Jump!

Funny thing about this election thing is you have to get more votes than antone else. That means you must represent a plurality of the voters. The Republican party allowed their name to be used by the madmen who called themselves NEO-CONSERVATIVES. People like Rush Limbaugh, Norquist, Cheney,,,etc. These people could never come out and say what they really were,,ANTI-HUMANISTS,,it just would not have worked. Now they've in effect destroyed our two party system,,a very bad thing indeed!
The people don't want TORTURE!!!

Senator Specter's action should come as a surprise to no one. He has long been a "Democrat" in Republican's clothing, he just refused to admit to that fact because he was afraid of not being re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

The news keeps growing worse for the Rethugs. First Obama is succeeding despite their attempts and wishes for him to fail. Rational adult Americans are rejecting the divisive politics that served them well 8-10 years ago. The Evangelicals and other right-wing extremists are losing their influence on "cultural" issues. The Rethugs are going to be impotent for the next dozen or so years unless they change course.

As a PA Democrat I have not always agreed with Senator Specter but I welcome him to my party! He has lots of experience, and if most his future votes are to my liking I will give him my money and my vote. I'm glad to see he jumped the ship to NO-where.

dude, you just simply dont get it(...and that's probably why you're a liberal...)

your arrogance leads you to respond: Waaaaah.

but if you simply read the post, you'd see how psyched most conservatives are...not crying, we're happy.

Posted by: capntrips | April 28, 2009 12:57 PM | Report abuse
-----
Happy!!! Ahahahaha ahahhahaha ahahhaa That's the best one yet! Like a 5 year old who had his ball stolen.."I didn't want that ball anyway". Hahahahahahahhaha This is so great. Ok...you all go on being "happy". If you being "happy" means the Dems taking more seats, then I'm all for your happiness! Ahahahahahahaha

All the more reason people should think about who they are voting for and not just vote for their "Party" like it's a favorite team or something! He walks like a duck, he quacks like a duck......he's finally declaring he's a duck!! What a shock! Look at voting records if you need to decide which party someone belongs in.....don't listen to what they tell you.... look at what they do!!

Lot of sour grapes from the GOP trolls today. Those poor losers aren't having a very good year .. Obama's support remains rock-hard, and all their bleating about "far left" and "Messiah" and all Cheney's calmly "authoritative" scolds are falling on deaf ears. Now a leading Republican stalwart jumps ship, tilting the balance so that the GOP can't even muster a filibuster.

That was it, folks. After 2006 and 2008 the GOP has no power to craft policy, now they lack the power to even influence it. The Democrats can proceed calmly ahead and do the nation's business while the GOP continues to succor nasty-grimy racists and tax-cutters and free-market zombies. Irrelevant, incompetent, and bereft of ideas.

Your hate mongering is really paying off. When republicans with almost 30 years of service are switching parties, it would appear that maybe far right wackos like yourselves are a significant part of the problem. Keep up the good work--when we get 4 or 5 more to switch over, maybe we can finally start moving the country forward again.

I think the strength of conservativism is on the rise - FAST. thanks to out of control liberalism/spending/taxing that is why a liberal republican like spector needs the aircover of the dem party...no way he wins in the newly strengthed R party.

this is a great day for the republicans now we can get this back stabbing hypocrit out and a real rep in . I had already decided to support Toomey. Spector has been a dem since 1989 anyway now is official.Good riddance Mr.spectior

I think Spector took a look at the republican party and said, "what the hell happened to this party. There is no hope for republicans, they don't have any solutions to anything, they want this president to fail, they are trying everything to score political points instead of being concerned for all Americans, there only concerned about themselves and there party. I'm just flat out disgusted with republicans, I'm switching parties. At least the democrats have new ideas and are trying. I don't want to be part of the party of no nomore.

He switched because he was facing the possibility of being defeated in the republican primary. He is a self-serving piece of sh!t. All I can say is that one party rule is not a good!

Posted by: goziner | April 28, 2009 12:35 PM
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As offensive as these comments are, there's some truth in them; but just not recognized by their author. He switched because the prospect of losing the GOP primary merely confirmed what everyone's been seeing over the past eight years: the GOP is no longer (if it ever was) a Big Tent. The party's current spokespersons, Limbaugh and Hannity and Ingraham, have instituted so many extremely restrictive litmus tests of "true conservatism" that there's no room for anyone who isn't a true believer, as defined by that gang. It's the way of destruction.

Specter's positions, by the GOP's own assertion over the years, aren't a fit for what the party has become. So, he's doing the right thing to leave it. It's also the winning thing to do. It may appear self-serving, but it's entirely rational, all things considered.

Look in the mirror, "true conservatives." Your zealousness, which most closely resembles that of the taliban, has consigned you to hopefully temporary insignificance.

Senator Specter has been a mainstream moderate forever using careful thought and reason on his positions. He represents Pennsylvanians and working people in this state. Toomey is a lot further to the right as in the right wing extremists. His agenda is not for mainstream Pensylvanians. I'll be voting for Arlen again even if I have to do a write in.

JakeD - Pretty much that this is a good thing. Specter is not a moderate Republican, but a LIBERAL Republican. Pop the corks and celebrate getting rid of deadwood.

One point was quite good. Now Toomey is not going to have to spend any money on a primary, whereas Specter is likely to face a Democratic opponent. So, even if he makes it through the primary, he faces Toomey anyway.

In some sense, Specter is just reversing his primary and general elections.

Here's Specter "keeping his word" and sticking to principle for a whole 30 days before he relaized he was toast.
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April 28, 2009
Specter had disavowed a switch
@ 12:28 pm by Eric Zimmermann
News of Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch today comes after several months of strong statements to the contrary by the Pennsylvania Senator.

In a March 17th interview with The Hill, Specter said he absolutely would not switch parties:

[Democrats] are trying very hard for the 60th vote. Got to give them credit for trying. But the answer is no.

I'm not going to discuss private talks I had with other people who may or may not be considered influential. But since those three people are in the public domain, I think it is appropriative to respond to those questions.

I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That's the basis of politics in America. I'm afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle atlantic. I think as a governmental matter, it is very important to have a check and balance. That's a very important principle in the operation of our government. In the constitution on Separation of powers.

When one changes from a Republican to a Democrat does their brain tell them to immediately put the interests of our enemies before any consideration of our security? Does their brain now tell them that partial birth abortions and taking all guns from homeowners, and high taxes to spread the wealth and taking over corporations to dictate their products and policies, and talking trash about America is now a good thing?
Do they then think that socialism leading to the fascism that comes with filibuster proof Senates and overwhelming House approval of spending trillions that create very few jobs but further weaken our credit, cutting missile defenses just as North Korea and Iran are developing systems to deliver nuclear warheads are good things?
One day the Congress will decide to pass an Enabling Act giving our President Obama full and complete powers just after he obtains a majority on the SCOTUS. They will bow to him as he bowed to the Saudi King and we will have a Dictatorship in America.
God Bless Arlen Specter. His was one of the cuts that will kill America...the unkindest cut of all so far.

I'm a moderate who longs for a viable third party of centrists. But Specter would never be welcome in my party--he began as a sleazy DA in Philly and has milked his phony centrism for too long. His final vote on Clarence Thomas is just one example of how he plays to the press before he plays the wimp. For those of us who long for something to stop the Obama/Pelosi/Reid juggernaut, this is not the best of news.

But if the Dems want this repugnant legislator, let them have him? I can'ty believe that either Mayor Nutter or Governor Rendell wouldn't be far better candidates for Senate than this vascillator.

Won't be the last. Who would want to remain in the party whose relationship to the President borders on treason? The GOP has gone from conservative to ultra-conservative to just plain crazy. Authentic conservatives don't have a party to represent them and, forced to choose between a more liberal party and one that's just plain loony, Specter made the right choice.

The following comment would not post to the New York Times' story about the Air Force One flyover "terror." Perhaps some fusion center operative took it literally. Maybe Sen. Specter can push for an investigation, since the Defense Department said today it's not reviewing the matter.

THAT BIZARRE, SADISTIC AIR FORCE ONE 9/11-ESQUE FLYOVER:

STUPIDITY -- OR A DEVIOUSLY CLEVER COVER STORY FOR A FOILED PLOT?

Think about it: "Terrorists" hijack the backup Air Force One. It's flown into a lower Manhattan office tower. Thousands perish. When it is revealed that Al Qaeda has struck again, the global war on terror resumes with a vengeance -- with the President who hoped to bring world peace unwittingly cast as the new "W."

But what if word of the "plot" leaked out?

Well... revert to the cover story. Go through with the fly-over (after giving local law enforcement a secret heads-up). When terrorized New Yorkers cry foul, claim it was just an ill-advised photo shoot. Make the "fall guy" a former secretary of the Army, the first Hispanic to serve in that capacity. Get him to "admit" culpability, and hope no one questions the irrationality of the explanation.

Of course, we all know that this is America, and something so Machiavellian, so malevolent, could never happen here. Never.

(blasmaic) In California, over 60%voted against "illegal" immigration policies twice, both overturned by Dems and the courts, also over 50% voted against gay-marriages, also being fought by Dems and the courts. Last I checked, Dems out number Republicans by a large margin, so it is not just we Republicans voting against minorities. Specter is a bafoon, and he will still be a bafoon in your party also. Once a snake, always a snake. Good Riddance.

I'm a once-democrat, as an art teacher out here in democrat-vote-bought California. My college comrades have destroyed our one-time 4th greatest economy on earth. Their response to the people is to ignore us, like the controlling school marms of the past. They've run millions of jobs and our prosperity out of California, across the West and largely out of America altogether. They love to blame business for escaping their over-tax/over-regulation schemes designed to harm everyone, instaed of themselves.

They and their partners (in our societal destruction) the MSM, have lied to us daily for decades proving: Once they got control of out school systems/stupified the young for three decades, Californians became cattle ready for slaughter every time they need more money.

So, all those people out there who think they're so "smart" being a democrat, remember that if your party hates the people so much that they will happily destroy the future of all of Californians (except Chicago-style corruption in our big cities), they will destroy you too, but I guess you too are hopelessly incapable of seeing corrupt demo-controlled Detroit and Michigan for the new depression-era realities they are, at your hands. Who can you kill and rob now?

You'd better start killing your children's hopes and dreams at home so they won't hate you so soon as the smarter ones among them slowly learn what you've done to them as they get out into the world and actually learn about real life.

As I blogged this morning about the possible death of the Republican Party, there is a challenge for the Republican Party. Challenges are both threats and opportunities. Immediately it is a threat because it will not allow the GOP to limp through this season of Congress being able to block filibusters. The opportunity is that the Party can take back their party from the runaway right wing nuts of the base. This is a major victory by centrist such as myself who are not very far left of center and keeps us from having to vote further left than we want to keep the Right-Wing-Nuts out of office.

As a former Pennsylvanian, I was never really impressed with Sen Specter. He's been a RINO for years. He is only doing this to keep his job in 2010. I hope he takes a real beating in his re-election attempt.

It will be very difficult for Senator Spector to win the Democratic Primary while opposing the Employees' Free Choice Act. Unless he changes his position, he will have traded one primary problem for another.

Honey, this IS the pendulum swinging back fast and hard. Don't you get it YET??

Posted by: kperrystillerman | April 28, 2009 12:46 PM | Report abuse
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Excellent! Well said. Yeah, the rethugs have been talking about a revolution. We just had the revolution. The last two election cycles were it. We're watching it happen right now. The rethugs are so "out there" that they can't see this. What do you rethuglicons tell yourselves to sleep at night? This is the most blatant example of party repudiation that this country has seen in a long time, and there are still those who can't/won't see it. Amazing.

Some of these posts are going to be indicative of "THE FAR CHRISTIAN RIGHT" like:
__________________________________
Arlen Specter - people you would like to see featured in an Islamic snuff film.
Posted by: SharpshootingPugilist | April 28, 2009 12:03 PM | Report abuse

I will LOL at all the Dems if Joe Lieberman ever jumps ship. Then we'll see how many of them have "great respect" for him. Specter is just a pol who needs to get re-elected. He's no man of high principle.

The self destruction of the Repugs continues.
They are now pretty much totally powerless and I will enjoy watching the extreme right wing head explosions on all the comment boards.
Wonder how Limbo, Hannity, Beck, and the rest of the wackos will try to twist this.
I'm lovin' it!

Arlen was a Democrat before he was a Republican. He became a registered Republican, because the Philly Democratic machine had too many people slated for office ahead of him, and the Republican party in the city had been pretty much reduced to Thatcher Longstreth. Advancement in the Democratic Party would have taken years, years that he saved himself by becoming a Republican. Then, as now, it's a practical move. Philosophically, he's always been more of a D than a R. The political calculus of a moving point has shifted him back into the D column.

Nearly 20 years ago, I became friends with a Federal judge who described himself as "an orphaned Republican." When I asked what that meant, he said he became a Republican in the late 1940s after looking at both parties, deciding that both wanted the best possible for the U.S. However, Republican fiscal views--"If we can't pay for it, we can't afford it.--seemed more reasonable than the pervasive Democratic view that increased tax revenues caused by the success of the policies that engendered the increased spending would ameliorate any deficit--an argument actually stated and implemented by the Reagan administration.

He added that, the Republicans changed from fiscal conservatives to "moral watchdogs" in the 1960s. Their "big 3" issues became anti-gay rights, anti-abortion and anti-women's lib, all of which, he felt, did not belong in the political arena, indeed, should seldom appear in a court of law.

On the other hand, we are now engage in a disastrous Mideast war because too many "Democratic" Senators failed to vote against our involvement.

Great news! Arlen Specter is an intelligent, forward thinking practical man who finally discovered that the "big tent" of the Republican Party was converted into a circus tent full of freaks like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Faux News and (haha) Sarah Palin!

"Intelligencia" as the great college drop outs Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity believes ruins our country by "over thinking" will have a place in our nations politics again! Except the real word is Intelligence. These people believe dumbing up the country makes us stronger because the right-wingers can have more control over the minds of the people when they are sheep.

Now the Republicans will now have to try to elect Pat Toomey! Good Luck! Specter did not have a chance when only the republican sheep that still think Bush was a great president were the only ones allowed to vote for him in the primary. Now Specter will crush Toomey in the landslide victory that he deserves. Specter refused to be a sheep of Rush Limbaugh and company by not participating in partisan games at the expense of our country!

It is good that he has come home to his party and we welcome him back!

A very clever move that leaves the GOP with a big black eye. There's no doubt that it was politically motivated, but so what? It's politics. The bottom line is, there is no room for moderates in the GOP. That party has been usurped by the religious whackos, biggots and morons. That is very sad, because there ought to be a place for fiscal conservatives and a party that at least serves as devil's avocate when it comes to government spending. The problem is that the GOP isn't playing Devil's adovacte in a spirit of cooperation and trying to find solutions. Rather, it has become the party of NO, opposing anything and everything in the hopes of sinking the country into bad enough straits that people will vote Republican again. It's truly sad, but when the face of the GOP is Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, there is no room for the Arlen Specters of the party. He made the right move, and I don't doubt he will win in 2010. Welcome, Arlen. Us moderate Democrats look forward to having you on our team.

P.S. To those conservatives still in denial about the implications of this switch - it doesn't really matter if Specter (or the Blue Dogs, for that matter) vote with the Democratic majority on actual bills. All the majority needs is 60 votes on cloture motions to avoid filibusters. Simple majorities are sufficient to pass an actual bill.

Alzheimers has set in. Specter invented the Magic Bullet theory that one bullet hit 3 people when JFK was shot by Lucian Sarti behind the picket fence. Sarti was an Israeli Mossad hitman born in Sicily but living in Marseille. Specter and Gerald Posner were trying to hide the Israeli hitman who was hired via the CIA's Jesus Angleton. Israel was angry at JFK for trying to stop their Atomic Bomb development.

Well, well, well...the well is running dry
in the Republican party...We know know that Reagonics was a hoax...Democrats lest
we be careful who we let enter... watch for
hyprocracy, double dealing, and treachery... they will come disguised as honest, truthful, and reliable. Some will even go in the direction of whichever the winds blow...Remember we vote for principles, values and ideas, not people. I hope Mr. Spector will be mindful of these tenets when serving the citizens of Pennsylvania and the United States

Self serving move to join the self serving party. He already walked, talked and smelled and like a dem. He is a complete charlatan, and the liberals are glad to have him because personal integrity has no value in this party.

I laughed when I read that he thinks the GOP is moving to far to the right. Most republicans are upset because the republican party has moved so far to the left. You can't really tell the difference between the 2, except to look at the far fringe groups of each.

I am a lifelong democrat from another state but have always respected Arlen Specter. He is a man of principle and has always voted his conscience--regardless of the problems it might cause for him personally. I think he can do a lot for helping to advance some of the health and science issues that the nation will be grappling with for the next few years. Welcome Arlen--you've never belonged to the party of religious hypocrites and racists.

That's fine, now the Dems own it all, lock stock and barrel.But can they bring down the unemployment rate, another attack and keep the inflation down like Gas prices? I don't care as much about the parties as I do the country.

Posted by: hehbmr | April 28, 2009 12:39 PM | Report abuse
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Yeah..you care about the country. Let me guess who you voted for in 2000 and 2004. This is absolutely hilarious. I was thrilled when Obama won, but the best part was the realization that I'd get to watch the rethuglicon party implode. Let's all sit back and watch...there's plenty more to come.

wow, a repugnot who did the right thing when he voted for Nixon's impeachment and now is doing the right thing in representing the urgent needs of Pennsylvania as we transition to another economy (non-heavy industrial). I actually allowed myself to consider this when repugnot bashed him over his recent votes in support of "rescuing" the economy and rejecting party bosses. Now if we could get Susan Collins.... wait, she loves the limelight. Plus she represents the repugnots so well with her tottering voice and logic. Best stay with the beasts and request Maine make the best to decision on putting that out to pasture.

Absolutely wonderful symbolism: Republican Arlen Specter makes himself the 59th vote, and Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty gets to certify Al Franken as the 60th vote. The Republicans have done it to themselves big time, by preaching ideology over competence, short-term profit for the already-rich over sustainability, and totalitarian expediency over democratic values. Good luck to you, and don't let the door hit you too hard.

Republicans are biting off their nose to spite their face. All of them coming on here clearly do not understand the wide-reaching implications. You had one of the dying moderates (Specter) on your side and lost him because YOU have gone astray. As an independent, I'm not a Democrat on the basis of their spending-nature (though in principle, I agree that the government needs to help stimulate businesses, etc. through the expenditure of some amount of capital), but I am HARDLY what the Republican party has become. This is on the basis of the fact that I do not agree with authoritarian federal governance (is it ONLY a state's rights debate over guns? I think not; abortion, gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, etc. are all ALSO state's rights debates), limited AND ineffective government ("larger" can be better IF it is effective, but small and limited are of course ideal), and I'm not a racist/bigot/religious zealot/Limbaugh-listening angry white man (though I am white and male). I do not blame all of my problems on the "Mexicans" (Latin Americans of course being the CORRECT term, but hey they're all brown right?) or political correctness (which is really code for saying "I wish I could still say the N-word")

One more A$$ hole for the democrat party, which is full of them.
All you nitwits who are applauding the move better hold on to your money, and a gun or two. Most of you probably don't have much of either, but the corrupt democrats are hell bent on taking away both from you, along with lots of your freedom.

Can we find a country in the world where we can ship our Republicans to self rule? It will be a very nice country, mostly white and rich. They can enslave the local/native population for free. No tax, no abortion. It will be bible study all day and bullying and raping the locals all night!

Specter, Snowe, and Collins ARE democrats. At least Specter has the courage to wear the label; even if forced by certain loss in the upcoming primary. It is hard to get emotional about it as Specter’s new label will not affect his voting.

Specter is certain to prevail in the general election as Pennsylvanian’s have slipped from proud self sufficiency to despair and dependence.

Arlen is a non Christian in a Christian state. He is also smart. He knows he would lose in the Republican Primary and that is why he is changing parties. Don't give this man a great salute for self serving interests. They are all corrupt. D or R makes no difference.

This is no suprise that a RINO has decided the heat was getting too hot from the Republican National Committee. Spector's idiology has been left and this move is just a politician, regardless of party affiliation, wanting to retain power.

The Republican Party has not changed, in fact with the selection of John McCain, has moved to the left. Those who think George Bush was a right-winged fanatic, don't understand the unrest in the Republican Party brought about by the Democractic-Lite policies the Bush Administration, Republican Senate and Republican Congress kept passing.

Democrats will never understand that Republicans hold there representatives accountable for actions taken, which are counter to conservative ideas.

Wow, I'm amazed by the amount of liberals who have such an off idea of what the republican party stands for. The tolerance on both ends of the spectrum is stifling. I can understand Spector's position though, but I think he is being a coward. We really need some legislature to change the archaic party limits, because where it stands he is neither Republican or Democrat, but I guess everyone is too busy making enemies of the other party to realize that both parties are changing and the moderate base is getting the shaft.

We welcome Senator Specter with open arms, this is great news! It will help pass the Obama agenda be it healthcare, student loan reform and Unions to the work place, which now should pass this year. Go Obama! Go Democrats!

"Try again, WestCountry, it is not the Democratic Party, if you were to be technically correct. Individuals are Democrats and Republicans from the Democrat and Republican parties, respectively, not Democrats and Republics from Democratic and Republican parties."

Uh, no. The name of the party is the Democratic Party. Nouns and adjectives are often different. Please learn English.

JakeD: That was in the CONTEXT of the vote on an economic STIMULUS bill, and you know it.

The dull butter knife of your logic has cut me to the quick - a recap of the one-two punch that laid me low: "Those two things you mentioned have nothing to do with the stimulus"; "We all know the stimulus debate involved those two things!"

Reading and reasoning - fundamental elements of civilized discourse and democratic politics. Perhaps some day we'll manage one or the other.

"Try again, WestCountry, it is not the Democratic Party, if you were to be technically correct. Individuals are Democrats and Republicans from the Democrat and Republican parties, respectively, not Democrats and Republics from Democratic and Republican parties."

Uh, no. The name of the party is the Democratic Party. Nouns and adjectives are often different. Please learn English.

Its funny there is no mentioned of how the people of pennsylvania will benefit there only discuss of the man and how he wants to remain in the senate. Regardless of the party I doubt his first concern was for his constituents, sad.

That's fine, now the Dems own it all, lock stock and barrel.But can they bring down the unemployment rate, another attack and keep the inflation down like Gas prices? I don't care as much about the parties as I do the country.

I don't blame him. The party activists have been roasting him for years. I'm not one of those people that sees nothing but doom and gloom for the GOP ever after, but this is really a bad sign for the party going forward. Dems are likely to pick up even MORE Senate seats in 2010, and it will be damn near impossible for the Republicans to roll back a five or six seat advantage in 2012. The GOP really needs to rethink its place in American politics, if it's driving away people like Arlen Specter. If there ever was a man who represented the middle of American politics, it's him, and the GOP alienates the middle at its own peril.

Welcome Senator Specter..! You are a patritot..you care about your country more than you do which side you are on..you love the Super Bowl and don't care that your team didn't get there, you will still watch, cheer and appreciate a good play!!! I don't expect you will be a yes man....but your voice and opinion are welcome...was it the GOP's stand on "say no to pandemic flu funding" or the "just say no, to the funding of an early Volcano warning system" or maybe the GOP's lies and ridiculing of the "bullet train" (the super train using alternative fuel (magnets to move) not fossil fuel high speed mass transit that finally brought you to your senses...? Health care for all..? Or just CYA..? What ever it was..welcome!

All of that seniority now at the disposal of the majority party is quite a gift. And if he shows he'll run with the Democrats most of the time (and he has over a year and a half to show his form as a Democrat) he WILL be reelected. He's very popular in Pennsylvania (and Toomey is a nobody with very narrow backing).

Do you mean the event that protested against taxes imposed without being able to vote for those who imposed them? And how is that analogous to your teabag parties? We live in a representative government. You had your say and you'll have your say in future years -- now go pay your taxes. All you're doing is building up profits for the fine people at Lipton, creating more Arlen Specters, and even further demonstrating your ilk's 1) conflation of historical events and 2) delusion that its views are in any way relevant.

DickCheneysDutchOvenCookies:

"Gay" used to mean "happy" once upon a time too. Try looking up the "Boston Tea Party" in an American history text someday.

"Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next Senator from Minnesota."

WRONG. Having a filibuster-proof majority is a property that applies only to individual bills, since each Senator of either party is free to vote for or against cloture on any single bill.

Consequently, a PARTY doesn't have a "filibuster proof majority" in any meaningful sense of the term, unless it's got so many Senators that it can muster 60 votes for cloture even on bills where it has an unusually large number of defectors.

If the Democratic majority reaches maybe 64-65 Senators after the 2010 midterms, that might be largely filibuster-proof, because it could survive the defections of Specter, Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Kent Conrad, for instance, on key bills, and still have 60-61 votes for cloture.

Having fun. Put on Rush as soon as I heard the news to get his take on it. I wonder how this will affect Coleman's appeals. Now that Specter is #59 for the Democrats, the importance of the Minnesota seat is magnified.

Bowling's over for the season, so I might get back into disc golf for awhile.

Truthmattersfa mentioned Operation Chaos some number of posts back. That strategy can cut both ways. With Obama's renomination secure in 2012, just imagine many millions of Democrats registering as Republicans to vote for Sarah Palin in the primaries.

I'm remembering how I felt as a Democrat when all the Conservative Democratic Senators in the South (or at least it felt like "all" at the time!) switched allegiances to the Republican Party during the Reagan era. They did so partly because they wanted to, I'm sure, but largely because their constituents had shifted that way also.

Again and again, I go back to what I often told people when I volunteered for Obama: I believe Barack Obama will be our Ronald Reagan, a truly transformative president who sets a new direction for the country.

This decision by Specter is just the latest parallel to the Reagan era.

Another Reaganesque parallel that comes to mind, of course, is Reagan's famous saying that he didn't leave the Democratic Party--the party left him. I think that's what Specter is saying about the Republican Party, as are the hundreds of thousands of former Pennsylvania Republicans who re-registered as Democrats. Their wholesale shift away from the GOP is what ultimately caused this, by moving (what's left of) the party so far right in Pennsylvania that a sitting Republican senator with a distinguished record could not win the primary.

Welcome Senator Specter..! you love the Super Bowl and don't care that your team didn't get there, you will still watch the game, cheer and appreciate a good play!!! I don't expect you will be a yes man....but your voice and opinion are welcome...was it the GOP's stand on "say no to pandemic flu funding" or the "just say no, to the funding of an early Volcano warning system" or maybe the GOP's lies and ridiculing of the "bullet train" (the super train using alternative fuel (magnets to move) not fossil fuel high speed mass transit that finally brought you to your senses...? Health care for all..? Or just CYA..? What ever it was..welcome!

"Chris, it's DEMOCRATIC, not "Democrat" party. If it's "Democrat party", then it should correspondingly be "Republic party".

When will you in the media fix this? Jeesh."

Try again, WestCountry, it is not the Democratic Party, if you were to be technically correct. Individuals are Democrats and Republicans from the Democrat and Republican parties, respectively, not Democrats and Republics from Democratic and Republican parties.

Funny how his fundamental dishonesty shines through even on a tangential matter. He knows full well that so many voters in PA switched parties last year specifically so they could vote in the Dem primary, which still mattered, whereas the GOP nomination was already sewn up. Yet he goes out of his way to imply that this was some sort of mass ideological movement from the right to the left. It's not only dishonest, it's insulting to anyone who does remember 2008. He's gambling that no principled reporter will call him on this BS - probably a safe bet.

I'd also like someone to challenge him to name ONE issue on which the GOP is more conservative today than in 1980. The fact is both parties have moved drastically leftward since then - to the point where a 2009 middle of the road Republican would be considered dangerously laft wing even as a Democrat in 1980. And certainly the GOP itself hasn't become more conservative; I only wish. But again I think Specter knows no one will challenge him on his ridiculous assertion. He wants to pretend that he stayed firmly anchored while the party lurched right. Neither is true.

As a 35 year Pennsylvania Demcratic voter, I heartily welcome you to the the party, and will work for you as I have worked for Rendell, Casey, Sestak and others. You are the only remaining Republican who has any remnant of a real conscience. The Republican Party and its original principles is extinct.

To Senator Specter:
Welcome!
I have always had a lot of respect for you and for your judgment.
I know how painful this decision has been for you and I understand why you felt it necessary to take this step.
Senator, I'm a Roman Catholic.
While this political climate has not affected my deeply held faith, it has affected my active participation in parish life for the same reason you are having to take the step politically that you have taken today.
God bless you and your family.
We will support you in the next election, gladly.
Thank you for giving the American public a lesson in love of country and integrity.

Speaking as a Pennsyvania Democrat, good news! I've had a soft spot for Specter since he stopped Robert Bork.

Oh, and to the Republicans and conservatives above who are talking about traitors belonging with the Democrats, one thing: polling last week reveals that a MAJORITY of Texans of YOUR PARTY are open to seceding from the Union (as, apparently, is YOUR PARTY's Governor of that state). So, really. The time when Republicans could lecture the rest of us about patriotism is long past, just like the time you could claim to be the party of Lincoln. Glad Specter's finally realized that.

--- yawn -------- as an independent Independent with Libertarian leanings, I say: "So What?"
The inept Republicans are leaderless and a joke -- the demented Democrats have become more and more socialistic, and, led by a Marxist narcissist -- hey, we producers/earners have been shafted.
But, we ain't seen nuthin' yet = this country is flushing itself down the toilet, and inasmuch as I've paid my UNfair share of taxes (yes, over 50% before Reagan's tax-cut in '81), we'll be flying down to Brazil in July to see if we'll get a place there, or in Costa Rica where we may relocate so as to escape further tax increases planned by Obama, et al.

I am inspired by the courage of your convictions. You are also a very wise politician.

Now, please help take down the "extrajudicial punishment network"spawned or expanded during the Bush-Cheney years -- a government-enabled American Gestapo that has made a mockery of the rule of law, in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation.

When you've done that, perhaps you can help clear up one of history's most troublesome mysteries.

Wow is it fun to read the posts of the irate right wing loonies. As a PA voter, I say it is about time. 200,000 Republicans ran screaming from the madness over the past 4 years. Toomey doesn't stand a chance in a statewide election. Philadelphia and the suburbs will decide this election and they will not vote for someone with conservative extremist views. If you don't understand that, then you DO NOT live here.

It's funny to read all the Dems crowing on here. Good luck with that "60" majority guys. I'm sure your party will use it wisely. Good luck getting the Blue Dogs and the Dems in conservative states to vote for every looney left initiative.

Fascinating, Chris! I've always respected Sen. Specter, even if I occasionally disagreed with him (or the inevitable rhetoric--he is a politician, after all--or should that be 'before all', although a principalled one? BTW, is it an oxymoron to use 'principalled' and 'politician' in the same sentence?).

You tantalizingly withold your opinion on Specter's chances of winning in the general, but given that PA is a Democratic-leaning state and the Republican party has shrunk so much, may I assume that his chances have greatly improved?

OT: Weren't you supposed to moderate something in the near future? Wish you'd re-post it as I'd hate to miss it.

Can we find a country in the world where we can ship our Republicans to self rule? It will be a very nice country, mostly white and rich. They can enslave the local/native population for free. No tax, no abortion. It will be bible study all day and bullying and raping the locals all night!

Congratulations go out to those of you in Pennsylvania. Specter has finally come to know that the Democrats are the "party of the People"--real people that is. Not the party of obstructionists, the Military/Industrial Complex and the rich and greedy. Welcome to the real world.

Specter probably figures his former party sees him for the turncoat he really is. Might as well suck up to the current administration for the duration. If he loses as a Dem, he'll try Independent next. Anything to stay on the taxpayers' payroll.

Specter is from Kansas originally and was a Democrat before being elected as Philly DA as a Republican. It will be interesting to see how he votes on Sibelius. The present Kansas lieutenant governor used to be Republican state chair but switched because that state's party had been taken over by the far right. Specter always benefited from crossover votes while running as a moderate Republican, particularly in the Philadelphia area.

It is sad that a man who wants to keep his seat and hold on to power will do anything. Let's get real, the reason he is changing parties is that he correctly realized he was going to lose to Toomey. It will now be a Toomey & Specter race in 2010. Swing voters will be turned off by Specters' opportunism, his old age, bad health and reading of scottish law.

Imagine what a wonderful world it would be without any Republicans! Welcome to the sane and caring side Arlen! Now you will be allowed to acknowledge arcane things like facts and logic and be able to avoid religious extremism, hate and stupidity.

I've always thought of Specter as a feckless boob and an opportunist. Maybe he's serious about being a Democrat. Or maybe he just figures this is his best shot at getting re-elected. It sure will be interesting to watch.

This is horrendous news for Senate Republicans. How will they remain the party of No? How will Mitch McConnell be able to throw his temper tantrums? Actually, if I were Sen. Specter, I'd be careful. I'm sure that Flush, Handjobity, and GlansPenis Beck will be taking to the airwaves talking about how true, gun loving patriots of the USA should take matters in their own hands. I'm sure one of their listeners in PA will heed the order, and shoot to kill. Just like that guy did with the police a few weeks ago.

Arlen Specter to switch to Democrats? Well, good riddance. He's been a traitor to the party and the country. At least he now can be seen for what he is. Too bad for the folks that voted for him, though.
He should resign and then run as a socialist, not steal a seat for them, but then what should we expect from him.
Seems it doesn't mean anything to the people who voted for him that he was more interested in protecting the interests of illegal aliens than he was American citizens. Hope they remember the next election..

Specter is such a snake. He knows he'd face a serious challenge in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania so rather than risk losing a tough campaign his answer is to switch parties so he'll have a basically uncontested primary. Good riddance to the ultimate RINO.

My lasting image of Arlen Specter is on the Senate floor during the vote after Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Specter voted his conscience, against conviction. Trent Lott was up in Specter's face, livid and desperate to claim at least a majority vote after his party had wasted a year of the Congress's time. But Specter held his ground and followed his conscience. Specter is a good man and the Democrats are fortunate to have him on their side.

As a liberal Democrat, I've never really had much regard for Senator Specter. He's provided a lot of cover (and votes, despite what the deadenders think) for his most ideological party comrades. However, I'm willing to hear him out, and I hope this furthers the the emerging consensus that the R party is the regional party of the South and the small tent of crazies everywhere (which also happens to be the truth).

Come on people. There are few convenient truths here that you are ignoring. 1: Specter has felt more and more alienated by his party for years now. Most of the old line northeast republicans are gone the way of the dinosaurs, and now the rust belt is following. Soon, all that will be left of the GOP is a bunch of southern racists, hard core evangelicals, gun nuts, and assorted no-tax crackpots. 27% and shrinking! That should be the GOP motto.

I expect that the right's heads will be exploding now.
If anyone thinks the republicans have been acting immature and obstructionist, just wait. They are going to react in an even more hard core manner.
But, part of this party switch is the republicans own fault. Many rightwing groups were going after him and their demands that everyone be hard core fringe is what is killing them and sending people like Specter elsewhere.
I welcome him and applaud his common sense in coming over.

I'd totally vote for him! Hey, I will be able to vote for him. Mazel Tov!

I've really admireed him for voting his conscience this year (Lily Ledbetter, Schip,etc) in the face of great pressure from the GOP. I think he's had a good Senate career, he has tons of seniority in the Senate (good for Pennsylvania) and he gets to end his career with a real *victory lap.* I think it is entirely typical of him that he is willing to switch affiliations at this point in his career.

I look forward to the work he can do during the rest of his Senate career now that he has left the party of "No you won't" and joined the party of "Yes we can."

The biggest question in my mind is why haven't the rest of Republican senators switched to Democrat or independent already!

It is clear beyond any imaginable doubt that the Republican party stands for greed, selfishness and apathy to human suffering. They have mangaed to bankrupt our country and filled the pockets and agenda of their corporate and military/foreign supporters.

Wow! Not sure what to say. I and pretty much all my family except one extreme right-leaning brother left the GOP several years ago due to the Southern Fried Taste. Mixed feelings that Specter is only now leaving when it seems useful to him to do so.

And I thought the last 100 days were fun! I can't wait to see what tantrums and rhetorical explosions this news elicits from the collective brain of conservatism.

The lesson here? Karma can be nasty. Make fun of volcano monitoring? Expect a major eruption. Cut funding for pandemic preparation? Hello, swine flu. Fight tooth and nail to disenfranchise voters and prevent a 60-vote majority in the senate? Watch your wingnuts drive Mr. 60th vote into the opposing party.

Oh bull. The Dems have nothing that they didn't have before, Chris.
And the last thing we need is another Lieberman taking a solid Democratic seat. I smell more Reid capitulations in trying to reinforce his own muddled middle position.

This is an excellent development for the Democratic party and for the nation. The Republicans have become so vile, so obsessed with demonizing immigrants, minorities, gays, non-Christians, and any one with a brain that they have made themselves extinct.

His decision has little to do with his views being more in line with the Dems. That has been the case for years. He made this decision because he is a career politician searching for the easiest path to staying in POWER. I will be LOL if he loses the primary.

Seems to me, billdulac, that Specter is exactly living up to the standard of doing and saying the same thing. You will notice that he is not switching his party affiliation NOW, he says that he intends to switch in 2010 and to stand for re-election under that affiliation. By announcing his intended switch now, he is giving his constituents plenty of time to decide how they feel about the matter, and whether their intent is to have him (specifically) in office, or to elect whoever runs as the Republican. He is not opportunistically switching in mid-term, he is not playing a bait-and-switch. If you don't like it, vote against him. If you are not one of his constituents, and have no right to vote on his candidacy, then maybe you should let his constituents evaluate whether they think he's a bum.

Did he make some sort of deal to ensure that the Dems won't run anyone else in the primary? Senator wishy-washy should be opposed in the Democratic primary by a strong candidate to send him into retirement.

The only reason he's running as a Dem is to save his ass since the polls show him trailing by 20 points in the primary to Toomey. That being said, what makes you think for a minute changing his party affiliation will suddenly make a difference? It won't and he'll be out on the street along with Chris Dodd.

I actually have a semantics question that really doesn't matter, but I'm still curious: Does this mean Specter remains the senior senator from PA, or does changing parties mean he somehow becomes the junior senator. Like I said, doesn't really matter, but I'm still curious.

Specter is living up to his name - an anti-James Bond traitor who sells his position (the soul was sold a long time ago), to the deepest pocket. Unfortunately, as observed above, he is just one of about 99 others who are no better than he is. Why are they there? For the money, the influence, and the power - not for America or Americans. Throw all of these bums out.

Specter collected his 30 pieces of silver from the Dems years ago. He is so prideful he cannot stand the thought of "losing" the 2010 election so he switches affiliation. Specter has already given the Dems the filibuster-proof majority...pity he won't live long enough to be defeated in 2010 anyway...probably in the Democratic primaries...Remember Arlen...they love abortion and they EAT THEIR OWN over there.

I for one would welcome Sen. Specter into the Democratic Party, as long as he reverses himself on the Employee Free Choice Act and the public plan option for Obama's health care plan. If Specter is supportive on these two issues, I'd be proud to have a moderate of his stature join the Democratic Party. Thank you, Ed Rendell, because we know that is who engineered this revolutionary party switch!

Shameful. But he is no different than the 99 others in the Senate who say one thing and do another. There is no such thing as an elected official 'serving his/her constituents'. They line their pockets, engage in outlandish cronyism, and drink the finest Scotch every Friday night in D.C. bars, all on OUR tax dollar.